Bleached into Azeroth
by BahamutReishiki
Summary: Ichigo and his friends are transported to Azeroth following a failed attempt to rescue Orihime from the clutches of Aizen. Soon after arriving they find themselves engrossed in conspiracies that will doom Azeroth. Will they manage to stop these plots or will Azeroth fall into darkness?
1. Prologue: The Adventure Begins

I do not own the characters, ideas, and/or places from either Bleach or World of Warcraft and their respective universes. Tite Kubo and Blizzard® own them respectively. Any original characters in the story belong to me. Any comparisons to other fan fiction or series characters are entirely coincidental and not intentional.

Hello - Normal Speech

_Hello_ - Thoughts

**Hello** - Demons / Titans/ Inner Hollow/ Dragons / Arrancar Released Form

**_Hello_** – Thoughts of demons, titans, inner hollow etc.

"_A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step…_" – Laozi

"_Sure, but who is to say it's your foot that takes that initial step._" - Me

Notice #1: Some liberties were made in certain character's backgrounds in this chapter in order to make the flow work. Please work with me.

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**Bleach Into Azeroth**

**Chapter 1: Prologue to Adventure**

**_Hueco Mundo_**

Ichigo twisted around the downward strike of the rapier before swinging around with his zanpakuto in return. The arrancar jumped over the blade and let loose a kick to Ichigo's face that was blocked when he raised a forearm. When the arrancar noticed his attack was stopped, he attempted to stab Ichigo with his zanpakuto only for it to be stopped with a series of sparks by the broadside of Zangetsu.

Mistakenly thinking they were evenly matched he sneered at Ichigo, "Are you scared of the power I possess shinigami?"

"That all depends," Ichigo growled back as he started to push the arrancar back, "Am I scared of the power you possess? No, no really. Am I scared that the fight will end before I can personally shut your mouth? Yes."

The arrancar grit his teeth in anger and vanished in a burst of static before reappearing behind Ichigo. His arm, poised above his head, swung his zanpakuto down towards Ichigo's heart.

"Take this you conceited shinigami bastard!"

The arrancar didn't even have the time to blink before Ichigo's hand came out of nowhere and grabbed his wrist, arresting his movement entirely. As much as he could try, he couldn't get the hand to let go. Just as he was thinking of a way to escape, Ichigo threw a haymaker at the arrancar's face that spun him around into a nearby dune, causing a large cloud of sand to erupt from the impact.

"What do you know? I guess I was able to shut you up after all."

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...

* * *

**_1 Hour Ago_**

Leaving the frozen remains of the guardian of Las Noches, Lunuganga behind, the group of 3 shinigami, a Quincy and two humans proceeded to run towards the imposing building of Las Noches in the distance

Ichigo's eye was starting to twitch as his frustration grew as Uryu started mocked his plan to rescue Orihime.

With a conceited smirk on his face, Uryu asked, "Help me clarify something for the rest of us Ichigo. You planned to invade Hueco Mundo and rescue Orihime all by yourself?"

"Shut up."

"Did you really think you could fight an army all by yourself? I mean really, you are bullheaded but even _I_ thought you were smarter than this."

His hand flexing on the wrapped hilt of Zangetsu as he debated the merits of killing the Quincy, Ichigo reined in his growing anger as best he could, "Shut up."

At this point, Rukia decided to step in on the fun with her common use of false modesty, "Is this true Ichigo? You tried rescuing me with five people and you barely made it out alive and now you tried to do it all by yourself?"

Stopping suddenly enough to leave a cloud of sand in his wake, Ichigo gave up trying to contain his anger. Grabbing the front of Uryu's shirt, he started shaking him while yelling, "IT WAS A GOOD PLAN! I KNEW WHAT I WAS DOING OK! IF YOU'RE SO SMART, WHERE WAS YOUR PLAN ASSHOLE?"

Not taking kindly to the intrusion of his personal space, Uryu attempted to make Ichigo let go of him, but failed when Ichigo gave up simply shaking him and decided to beat the crap out of him instead.

A couple of meters away, the rest of the group watched the bickering between the two silently. Turning to the rest of them Sado Yasutora, known as Chad to his friends, asked "Do you think either of them remembers that it was Urahara's plan to rescue Orihime, not Ichigo's?"

Huffing in annoyance at the delay to rescue her best friend, Tatsuki folded her arms and turned her head in Ichigo and Uryu's direction. "Those two idiots?" she asked annoyed. "I doubt it. They would rather let the world be destroyed than admit the other is right."

Letting out a deep breath Tatsuki turned to Rukia, who by this point was smirking at the now physical fight between Ichigo and Uryu. "And you," she started, gaining Rukia's attention. "Why the hell did you have to go and rile Ichigo up like that? You had to mess with him just when we needed him to focus on the mission."

With mock shock, Rukia replied, "How could I, an innocent girl, have the skills necessary to push Ichigo's buttons? Wouldn't Ichigo be angry at me if _I_ did anything?"

A tick mark visible on her forehead, Tatsuki turned to her and gritted out, "Well you didn't exactly help!"

Nearby, Renji could be seen leaning against one of the many dead trees that littered the dunes. Deciding that the fight was going to take some time, he felt that he could get some rest before the group could continue on. As he was just about to doze off, he heard a voice start talking to him.

"Ooh, what are they fighting about?"

Renji lazily responded with a wave of his hand, "It's just a fight between two idiots. Nothing really important."

"They seem like they're having fun."

At this point several things started to click in Renji's head. The first was that whoever was talking had no idea what Ichigo and Uryu were fighting over. The second was that he had no idea who the hell was talking.

Opening his eyes, Renji was subjected to seeing a strange green haired woman standing over him. Letting out an undignified, "Augh!" he moved away from the woman as fast as he could on the ground. Picking himself up off of the ground, he pointed at the woman and yelled, "Who the hell are you!"

Ichigo turned in Renji's direction to see what he was yelling about while letting go of Uryu, who by this point was pinning face down in the sand, "Who's who Renji?"

Everybody by this point realized that they had a new arrival and for most of them, their eyes widened in shock. Standing over where Renji was just lying, was a well-endowed woman in a form-fitting white outfit with long lime-colored hair, hazel eyes and a pink discoloration across the bridge of her nose. But what was brought to their attention was the broken mask that resembled a ram's skull sitting on the top of her head. Realizing that they were in the presence of an arrancar, one who could sneak up on them at that, the group of six got into their respective fighting stances in order to take on the new threat.

Utterly oblivious to the fight that could start at any moment; the woman looked around and innocently replied while pointing to herself, "Oh you must be talking about me?" Clapping her hands together in excitement, the arrancar happily replied," I'm Nelliel Tu Odelschwanck, former third espada in Aizen's army, but you can just call me Nel."

Ichigo's eyes widened in fear on what the woman just said, _"Did she just say she was the third espada?"_ Grabbing Zangetsu off of his back, Ichigo prepared himself for a battle he didn't know he could win just yet. _"Just how the hell am I supposed to fight someone whose three ranks higher than Grimmjow?"_

Thinking about what the woman said, Uryu took a step toward the arrancar and asked, "Wait a second, what did you mean by 'former third espada'?"

Turning away from the group, the woman started kicking the sand under her and replied, "Aizen helped Nel evolve from a vasto lorde in order to fight. But Nel does not like to fight. Nel just wants to live out her life in peace." At this point, Nel turned back towards the group with a sad look on her face. "Nel told Lord Aizen that she did not want to fight anymore. At first he seemed to agree but the next day I found Dondochakka and Pesche dead. I fled from Las Noches after that and have been hiding from Aizen's forces ever since."

Voicing what everyone in the group was wondering, Chad asked, "So you're a pacifist Nel?"

The vigorous nod from Nel had every letting out a sigh of relief. Instead of having to fight a super-powerful arrancar, a vasto lorde at that, they now had a potential ally standing right in front of them.

Walking up to Nel, Tatsuki started to closely examining her, as if to determine if she was booby-trapped. Satisfied with what she found, Tatsuki nodded to herself and asked, "So Nel, you don't exactly get along with this Aizen fellow right?"

"Yup, Nel doesn't like Aizen anymore."

"So if we were to ask you to help us rescue a friend from Aizen, would you offer to help?"

Frowning, Nel's hand drifted to the zanpakuto at her side before she clenched it into a fist. "Nel would do anything to get back at the people that killed her family." Walking past Ichigo, she smiled at him and called back to the rest of the group, "Well, don't you have a friend to rescue?"

Taking notice of what she said, the group started running towards Las Noches once again; the argument between Ichigo and Uryu forgotten and a new ally on their side to help rescue Orihime.

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_..._

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**_Present Time_**

Carefully approaching the place where the arrancar slammed into the sand, Ichigo let out a silent curse when he realized the arrancar had once again tunneled into the ground. Ichigo frowned as he looked around for some trace of his opponent. The arrancar he was fighting had the really annoying habit of burrowing under Hueco Mundo whenever Ichigo managed to cut or injury him.

"This bastard is really starting to piss me off," Ichigo growled while stomping his foot in anger, "Unless I kill him he will just flee underground every time I hit him."

_"Think Ichigo. There must be some way to draw him out of the ground but what?"_ After a moment, an idea hit him,_ "Wait, that's it!"_

With a smirk on his face, Ichigo swung Zangetsu above his head as he condensed his spiritual energy in it. "Try and avoid this you son of a bitch," he said as he speared his blade into the sand. The result of the attack was immediate as the energy released caused the sand to glow with a bright blue color. It wasn't long afterwards that a small explosion blew out of a nearby dune, rocketing the arrancar into the air into one of the small buildings that dotted the surface of the desert.

"He went farther than I thought…" Ichigo commented, raising a hand to his forehead.

As Ichigo observed the arrancar go flying through the air, Tatsuki was having a little bit more trouble with her opponent. While Ichigo's enormous spiritual pressure and strength made his fight fairly easily and straightforward, Tatsuki found that her opponent was much more of an even match and worse, she used the same style of hand to hand combat she herself used.

Blocking a kick with her left arm, Tatsuki was shocked when the strength behind the kick forced her to skid back along the sand. Attempting the regain the offensive, she tried to grab the arrancar's leg with her right hand only to be used as a springboard for the arrancar to jump over her body. As the arrancar landed nimbly on the ground Tatsuki switched her arm armor to her legs and smashed her heel into the arrancar's back, catapulting her into the air. Jumping after her, Tatsuki was shocked as the arrancar spun around and starting to fire balas at her.

Without thinking, Tatsuki rapidly dissolved the armor on her leg and concentrated it entirely on her left arm. As the familiar armor reformed, she focused a little more as a circular shield made of her spiritual energy sprung into existence around her hand. Pressing her body behind the shield, she sighed as she saw the balas harmlessly hitting her shield.

Once the attack subsided, Tatsuki landed on the sand with a small grunt and reformed her armor over her right arm. Focusing on her opponent, who was cruelly smiling at her several meters away, she said, "I don't know why you're so damn happy. I just blocked every one of your shots."

The arrancar simply continued to smile before she disappeared in a static buzz. Quickly understanding what she just did, Tatsuki twisted around the punch before locking her hands with her opponents, neither of them able to overpower the other.

"You know," the arrancar finally said as she attempted to repel Tatsuki, "for a human you aren't half bad. It is quite a shame that Lord Aizen order us to kill you. I would have loved to fight against you in the future. Who knows? You might have eventually beaten me."

"You know what," Tatsuki replied as she started to slowly push the arrancar back, "for a bitch, you are quite annoying."

The arrancar's face twitched in rage as she let go of one of Tatsuki's hand and spread her palm as an orange ball of spiritual power appeared, "You damn human. Die! Ce-"

Before she could fire her cero, Tatsuki grabbed the hand holding it and prevented it from being released. As the energy continued to build up, the arrancar started to struggle to pull out of Tatsuki's grip.

"Let go of me you bitch!

Tatsuki head-butting her prevented the arrancar from saying anything else as she stumbled back holding her now bleeding and broken nose.

Screaming in rage and pain, the arrancar ran at Tatsuki, "You broke my nose. I'm going to kill you!"

Tatsuki twisted around the punch and elbowed the arrancar in the face in retaliation. Instead of staggering back as she expected, the arrancar grabbed Tatsuki's arm and threw her knee into her stomach. Tatsuki collapsed onto her knees coughing and heaving as the arrancar jumped back and started to form another cero in her hand.

"Take this you bitch!" the arrancar shouted as she shot the cero at Tatsuki, causing a large explosion of sand and dust. When the sand settled and she saw that nothing remained but a crater in the ground the arrancar grinned and started to walk away, satisfied that her opponent was dead. When she felt a familiar armored hand rest on her shoulder, the arrancar froze in shock and slowly turned her head.

"You didn't think I would fall for something like that?

"How?" was all the arrancar managed to say before Tatsuki swept her feet out. As she fell, the arrancar felt a hand grab her leg before her momentum shifted and she was slammed into the ground headfirst. Dazed and bleeding from the mouth, she did not feel Tatsuki pivot and throw her into the air nor the impact several seconds later.

"You still fighting Chad?" she yelled.

Chad turned when he heard his name and then looked down at the arrancar in his hand. His opponent was bruised and bloody with several broken bones from a cursory glance. Staring just a bit longer, Chad let the arrancar fall to the ground in a silent heap.

"No, not really," he finally replied and walked towards Tatsuki, who had already dismissed the armor on her arms and was sitting on the ground.

Chad walked over to Tatsuki without saying anything. After a few seconds passed Tatsuki got annoyed and asked, "Well, what do you want?"

He waited a few more seconds before saying, "Are you alright? You seemed to be having some difficulty with that woman. She seemed strong."

Tatsuki huffed and brushed some sand off her jeans, "Idiot, I didn't have trouble because she was strong. We had the same fighting style so we both how to block and counter each other. I'm also new at this so give me a break."

Chad grunted in agreement and turned to look at how the others were doing. Ichigo of course had defeated his opponent quite easily and had already started making the long journey back towards the rest of group. Uryu's battle had been one sided as his opponent was slow and melee-oriented, making Uryu the worst opponent he could face. Uryu had simply run circles around him before finally defeating him with a single arrow through the throat.

Looking in the other direction, Chad noted that Renji was done with his battle as well but seemed to have some slight burns across his outfit as his opponent liked to throw fireballs a lot. Rukia on the other hand seemed to be cheering on Ichigo as he tried and failed to climb up the steep dunes only to constantly fall back down.

When Tatsuki started laughing hysterically, Chad turned to ask what the matter was when he realized what it was that she was laughing at. Off in the distance, two arrancar were trying to tag-team Nel and were failing miserably. Nel's hierro was just so strong that their sword and punches were doing absolutely no damage to her.

Noticing Tatsuki and Chad watching her, Nel waved and started walking over to them when one of the two arrancar attempted to stop her with a punch to the face. Without turning to face the arrancar Nel accidently hit the arrancar in the stomach with her elbow, causing him to fall to his knees and dry heave due to the force she hit him with.

When Nel heard one of her opponents coughing, she turned around and asked worried, "Are you ok, what happened to you?"

"Is she for real?" Uryu asked as he finally reached them.

Sitting up on the ground with her head in her hand, Tatsuki jealously replied, "Apparently so. No one with that much power should have the personality of a child."

Sheathing his zanpakuto, Renji smirked and turned to Rukia, who was glaring at Nel's display. It had become a type of secret among the rest of the group that Nel had started to get close to Ichigo as the group got closer to Las Noches and Rukia had taken notice of it soon afterwards. "Aw, is someone jealous? Is Rukia jealous that her crush on Ichigo has some competition?"

Twitching in anger, Rukia pivoted around and kicked Renji in the groin, causing him to gasp for air as his body impacted the ground. Not stopping, Rukia kept kicking Renji when he was down, "You bastard! What makes you think I have any feelings for Ichigo?"

"Feelings for who?" Ichigo asked as he finally arrived with the rest of the group.

"Oh nobody," Rukia answered sweetly. Turning to Renji, who was crying on the ground, she finished, "Isn't that right Renji."

Managing to get to his knees, Renji muttered in pain, "Yeah Ichigo, it was nothing."

While that was going on, the other arrancar had taken the time to pause at Nel's display of power. It was simply unreal at how strong this traitor of an arrancar was! Looking around he noted that every single one of the other numeros that accompanied him on this mission were defeated. Using a quick sonido to extend the distance between him and the group, he started to charge up one last suicidal attack to bring down his enemies.

"You lot won't manage to win now!" he said as his entire body became outlined with a green and red aura. "This attack is special only to me. It converts my entire being into a quickly expanding sphere of pure spiritual energy. You cannot possibly outrun it or defend against it without being torn apart on the atomic level. I call this unique attack Rafaga Rapida."

While the arrancar was charging up his attack, Uryu turned to Ichigo and quickly asked him, "Ichigo do you still have the thing that Urahara gave you?

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_..._

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**_Several Hours Ago_**

Ichigo skeptically looked at the small purple cube in his hand, "What the hell is this?"

"This is a special invention of mine Ichigo!"

"Is this some kind of joke?"

Urahara grinned and whipped his fan out in front of his face and replied, "I assure you that this is no joke Ichigo. I have spent many hours slaving away to create this. When I heard how hollows rescued Aizen and his associates back in the Soul Society a few months ago I thought to myself 'how can I get me one of those?' and here it is!"

Ichigo head dropped slightly at the mention of Aizen and how he easily disabled and almost killed him and Renji.

Seeing Ichigo's attention slipping, Urahara closed his fan with a _snapping _sound that brought Ichigo out of his depression. "You can consider this small and insignificant cube a very special invention of mine. All you have to do is imagine the ability of hollows to rescue each other, referred to as negacion, and make it portable." he finished while pointing to the cube in Ichigo's hand.

"So what does it do?"

"Oh Ichigo, I guess you aren't as smart as I thought." Urahara managed to get out before ducking a rock Ichigo threw at him. "As I was saying," he said, "I call this invention of mine Caja Negacion. It creates a portable negacion field around a target that separates whatever is inside it from us with another dimension. Using this wisely can trap an espada-level arrancar or even one of Aizen's associates in an alternate dimension. Well, as least for a couple of hours."

As a look of realization passed over Ichigo's face over exactly what he was holding Urahara warned him, "Be careful Ichigo, this is an untested device. I am not exactly sure how this will work so I need you to be cautious when you use it."

Turning to the portal to Hueco Mundo, Ichigo stopped when Urahara said, "Oh, and Ichigo?" Stopping and looking back at Urahara, Ichigo was annoyed that he had one of those goofy smiles on his face again. "If anything goes wrong such as a catastrophic collapse of the dimension, a gigantic explosion, or the collapse of the space-time continuum, please thoroughly write down what happens ok?"

Pocketing the cube in his clothes and muttering about insane shopkeepers, Ichigo turned towards Uryu, Chad, and Tatsuki, who had been patiently waiting for him.

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_..._

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**_Present Time_**

Reaching into his pocket, Ichigo's hand closed around the purple cube. Pulling it out, he turned to Uryu, "Yeah I have it. Why?"

Squinting and covering his eyes to keep the flying sand out of his eyes Uryu explained, "Urahara said that his invention traps a target within a separate dimension. Using it on that arrancar should be able to trap him before that attack can go off."

Understanding where Uryu was going, Ichigo thought about the plan for a moment before responding, "But are you sure this will work?"

Grimacing as he felt the level of energy continue to increase, Uryu scathingly replied, "No, but do you have any better ideas?"

Pondering on what to do, Ichigo let out a quick "Damn it!" before taking off toward the arrancar's location.

As they watched Ichigo's apparent suicidal run towards the arrancar, Rukia asked, "What is Ichigo doing? Has he gone completely insane?"

Hearing her question, Uryu replied, "Ichigo has a plan. He is going to try and use one of Urahara's inventions to save us."

At hearing the words 'Urahara' and 'save us', Renji sighed and held his head in his hands, "Why does that not make me feel better? Do you have any safer ideas?"

Either ignoring or not sensing the sarcasm Nel suggested, "We could always ask him nicely to stop."

Tatsuki rubbed her hand across her face before twisting around and asking, "Are you fucking kidding me?"

Neliel blinked, "Kidding who?"

Sighing in annoyance at the innocence in Nel's answer Tatsuki muttered, "Why did I expect anything else from her?"

As Ichigo struggled to get closer to the arrancar he began to realize just how little time was left. The arrancar was now floating with red and green cracks covering most of his body.

Noticing Ichigo running towards him, the arrancar turned to face him, "Oh, what's this? Have you come here to die or perhaps have you come to beg on your knees for your lives?" Ignorant of any possible threats to him, the arrancar laughed maniacally and spit in Ichigo's direction, "If I can't win, then I'm going to take you all down with me."

Ignoring the arrancar's taunts, Ichigo took one last look at the device in his hand and threw it, "I hope Urahara knew what he was talking about."

The arrancar's eyes widened in shock as he recognized exactly what Ichigo threw at him. Attempting to dodge it, he was too late as it hit his chest and began glowing and releasing tendrils of purple and black energy that started to cover and seal his body away.

"No, I will not be stopped like this!" the arrancar screamed as he struggled to free himself, "How did you manage to steal one of Lord Aizen's devices?"

"Steal?" Ichigo asked, "I was given this."

Unknown to both the arrancar and Urahara, the caja negacion was designed solely to trap physical and spiritual beings in a separate dimension, not pure energy. By the time that Ichigo had thrown the cube at the arrancar, the arrancar was almost entirely made up of energy. Due to this irregularity, the trapped energy began to buckle and push out between the cracks in the negacion until the dimension was entirely sealed.

All was quiet for a couple of seconds and the group let out a collective sigh of relief at the near death experience.

Ichigo sighed and walked back to the others, "Well let's con-"

At that moment, a loud bang was heard from where the arrancar was sealed. Turning around the group was subjected to the sight of a purple and green vortex appearing in a flash over the sands of Hueco Mundo that started to suck in everything around it.

"Ichigo!" Uryu yelled over the sound of a vacuum, "If that's what I think it is we have to get out of here!"

Grabbing hold of Rukia, Ichigo turned to Chad and yelled, "Chad, grab Tatsuki and run. Now!" The tall Mexican nodded in response, grabbed Tatsuki's arm and swung her over his shoulder as he turned to run away.

The group did not get far before the pull from the vortex became too strong to flee. Renji was the first to be pulled back as his foot slipped. Fortunately for him, Nel was close enough behind him to grab his arm.

"Damn it Nel!" Renji shouted, "If you're going to save me try not to break my arm off in the process."

Grunting with effort, Ichigo tried to move further away from the vortex only for the pull to increase in strength as well, "Keep moving guys, we can still make this."

"Something's not right here Ichigo," Uryu said over the roar of the vortex.

"Oh gee, you might be on to something," Ichigo sarcastically replied.

"Suck it up Ichigo! Take a look for anything strange."

Turning around while making sure to not let go of Rukia, Ichigo did not have to wait long before he noticed what Uryu was talking about. As part of one of the calcified trees that dotted the Hueco Mundo landscape broke off and hit the vortex, instead of being disintegrated or destroyed, it simply vanished into it without being taken apart.

"So you finally noticed," Uyru said. "It's a portal." Seeing Ichigo's face, Uryu attempted to placate him by admitting, "Look, it's the best plan I could come up with at the moment. But I don't see any other options for us."

Ichigo sighed at Uryu's explanation and looking around at his friends; Renji and Nel were the closest to the vortex but it seemed that Nel was slowly being pulled backwards. Chad had bent over to reduce the drag from the vortex and was holding Tatsuki in his arms away from the pull of the vortex. Uryu and he were fairing the best and that was only because they started the furthest away.

Ichigo grit his teeth before he made his decision, "Listen up everyone! Uryu thinks that this thing may be a portal and probably won't kill us. He wants us to jump into it."

"What?" Tatsuki shouted peeking over Chad's shoulder as well as the roar of the portal, "You want us to go INTO that thing? Are you nuts?"

"I told him it was a stupid plan," Ichigo agreed with Tatsuki.

Trying to run damage control, Uryu said "We have only three choices at the moment. We either jump in now and know what is going to happen to us, we are dragged in regardless of wanting to or not, or we're ripped apart trying to get away from it."

"I'm up for it," Renji yelled from behind Nel, "If you're wrong and it kills me, I'm going to come back and haunt both your asses for coming up with such an idiotic idea!" Turning to Nel, Renji grumbled before sighing, "Nel, I need you to let go of me now."

Nodding, Nel sadly released her grip on Renji's arm and watched as he flew toward the vortex. Just as it seemed he would impact its 'surface' Renji disappeared entirely.

Discovering that it would not mutilate her on impact, Tatsuki gathered up her nerves and said "Bye you bastards don't die on me," Tatsuki shouted and leapt out of Chad's arm toward the vortex. It was only a few seconds later that Chad released his grip on the ground and headed to the vortex as well.

Adjusting herself in Ichigo's arms, Rukia planted one foot on his shoulder in preparation to jump off, "Well Ichigo, I should have known that you will get us all into another mess."

Annoyed at her last-ditch attempt to irritate him, Ichigo helped Rukia along by throwing her over his shoulder into the vortex.

Uryu groaned at the act and began to move toward the vortex. He was just about to jump in when Ichigo said, "Don't you have anything to say?"

Smirking, Uryu turned back around to Ichigo before jumping and saying, "Why yes Ichigo. I accept your apology entirely."

Unable to respond to the veiled insult in time, Ichigo let out a breath and turning to Nel, who was still doing her best to not get dragged in. Moving carefully to Nel, Ichigo put a hand gently on her shoulder and calmly said, "Are you ready Nel?" Getting a swift and fearful nod in response, Ichigo leapt, with Nel right behind him, into the vortex.

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...

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(1) caja negacion – Negation Box

(2) Rafaga Rapida – Quick Burst

(3) El Directo – One Strike of the Giant

*As you can see, the basic premise of the prologue is the same as the original but updated to make the chapter better overall. I cut out the final scene from the original story where the group's impact on Azeroth was felt by several major characters. I did not want that to interfere with the prologue, which takes place entirely in the Bleach universe.

*The characters WILL NOT all be going to the same areas as in the original story

*The outline for Tatsuki's armor is entirely different than what it was in the original story. Kudos to the one that can manage to guess what her full armor is.

Well, here is the rewrite of my story _Bleach into Azeroth_. As you can see, I rewrote a lot of it and made the flow of the story a lot clearer with a backstory as to how Nel joined up with the group. So like it or love it, please review this story. I will try to post the next chapter within 10 days. If I manage to get it out before then, than that is good.

~Bahamut_Reshiki


	2. Arrival Arc: Renji

I do not own the characters, ideas, and/or places from either Bleach or World of Warcraft and their respective universes. Tite Kubo and Blizzard® own them respectively. Any original characters in the story belong to me. Any comparisons to other fan fiction or series characters are entirely coincidental and not intentional.

Hello - Normal Speech

_Hello_ - Thoughts

**Hello** - Demons / Titans/ Inner Hollow/ Dragons / Arrancar Released Form

**_Hello_** – Thoughts of Demons / Titans/ Inner Hollow/ Dragons / Arrancar Released Form

Notice #1: Some liberties were made in certain character's backgrounds in this chapter in order to make the flow work. Please work with me.

_Here is Chapter 2, Please enjoy this new retelling of my classic story, Bleach Into Azeroth. And just remember, everything has a purpose_

**Update 7/27/12: I have rewritten some of this chapter to include new information that I presented in later chapters but have forgotten to put in here. I have also taken care of a lot of the grammar and plot issues that may have made this chapter confusing. Please enjoy and review.**_  
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**Chapter 2: The Arrival Arc: Renji**

**_Tanaris_**

To the various species native to Azeroth, the deserts of Tanaris have always had one of the harshest natural environments. Apart from the stubborn native trolls and ogres who foraged for scraps and the occasional lost explorer, nobody could survive the extreme temperature shifts from night to day, the strong winds that could tear unprotected flesh, and the lack of food or water. Even with all the dangers the desert provided, many adventurers and goblins have come and gone in search of the treasures and secrets buried beneath the ever shifting sands.

Somewhere in the center of this desert a figure dressed in black can be seen walking through the sands, the trail of footprints highlighting his abrupt entrance into the desert. Reaching the bottom of yet another dune, Renji let out a cry of exasperation.

Calming himself, Renji proceeded to climb the dune cautiously, unwilling to risk falling backwards. Wiping off the sweat from his forehead, Renji couldn't recall ever being this hot and exhausted at the same time.

"Jump into the vortex guys," Renji said, in a relatively accurate mock voice of Ichigo as he stumbled up the dune. "It will be totally safe and won't kill you or anything. Yeah, that's a load of bull." Looking up and squinting to keep out the glare, Renji was happy to see he was almost at the top of the dune.

"Why couldn't that vortex just kill me and be done with it? At least if it did then I wouldn't be so damn hot. Better yet, why couldn't I end up somewhere really nice…like a beach?"

Renji's self-loathing ended as he reached the top of the dune. Instead of just climbing another dune like the many before it, he noticed that there was something unique on top of this one. Resting on the very top of the sand were the large remains of a creature that had to be at least 200 feet long.

He whistled in awe as he took a step back to try and view the entire creature, "Holy crap. I wouldn't like to see whatever managed to kill this thing."

His interest in finding out about the creature was short-lived once he realized that the large bones provided ample amounts of shade. Walking over, Renji sat down with his back against one of the bones and sighed in relief, "Finally, a break from that damn sun. I don't know how much more of this heat I can take. Even as a shinigami, without any food or water I'm going to die soon." Closing his eyes now that the sun wasn't beating down on his neck, Renji tried to think of a plan to get out of there alive.

_"How can I get out of this fucking desert without dying?" _he thought, _"Something is messing with my ability to use spiritual energy to fly and I can't use shunpo since it drastically tires me out for some reason."_ Leaning his head back against the relatively cool bone, Renji groaned, "This would be so much easier if I had a map or even a phone."

Renji sat there resting against the remains of the creature for a while, using the shade to regain some of the energy that he lost walking through the desert. Suddenly Renji angrily slams his fist into the side of the bone, cracking it with the sheer strength behind the blow. "What a load of crap this whole rescue is turning out to be. Here I go offering my help to rescue Orihime and the next thing I know I'm lost in the middle of a damn desert without food or water."

It wasn't long after that outburst that Renji sat up and groaned as he picked himself off the ground. He dusted the sand off his uniform and readjust the sheathe holding his zanpakuto onto his back for convenience. "Well," he said as he stretched his cramped limbs, "Sitting down and feeling sorry for myself isn't going to help me get out of this place. I need to make a plan to figure out how to get out of here."

As he walked out of the protection from the sun the bones gave, Renji became aware of just how hot it really way. "Holy," he exclaimed, "Was it always this hot?"

Standing at the edge of the dune, Renji lifted one hand up to his cover his eyes from the sun's glare. Looking around, all that Renji could see was an endless sea of scorching hot desert sands. Cursing silently, Renji let his hand drop to his side, _"This would be so much easier if I had somewhere high to climb to."_ Blinking a few times, he craned his head back and remembered where he was. "Oh, right."

Reaching the top of the remains, Renji was surprised just how much more he could see from up there. "Huh, didn't think it was this big," he admitted to himself

_"Ok_" he thought as he took in the landscape_, "Let's see what we've got here,"_

To what appeared to be the south, Renji could see the outline of what appeared to be ruins half-buried in the sands. Narrowing his eyes, Renji could almost make out the hazy image of a mountain range far behind the ruins. Turning west to the way he walked from, Renji wasn't surprised to see that sand stretched as far as the eye could see. In fact, he couldn't even see where he landed.

"I know which way I am _not _going,"

The north was a lot like the south, with a mountain range far into the distance. However, Renji thought he saw what appeared to be smoke rising. Initially hopeful of civilization, he quickly calmed himself as he thought about it, _"Don't get too excited Renji, it's probably just a brushfire or something. I mean really, it's probably hot enough to spontaneously combust."_

Slightly disappointed, Renji turned to the only remaining direction he had yet to look in, "_Ok, door number four. Let's hope this is a good one. I would hate to have to pick one of the lesser prizes._"

At first Renji thought it was just another expanse of sand with a few mountains clustered together in the middle, but a slight change in the color of the haze on the horizon forced him to take a closer look. Squinting as best as he could, Renji could almost swear the sand looked bluish. The gears in Renji's mind did not click for a few seconds and when they did, a hopeful grin spread across his face.

"Wait a sec, could that be water," shaking his head, Renji couldn't believe what he was seeing. "Nah, it couldn't be; I'm not that lucky. It's probably a mirage or something."

Renji closed his eyes and counted to ten, thinking that when he opened them again, the mirage would be gone and all that he would see is sand, some mountains, and most likely more sand. When he finally opened his eyes, the mirage of the ocean was still there and Renji was starting to become convinced that it was probably real. Jumping back down to the sand and landing in a small cloud of dust, Renji walked back into the shade and started pacing as he thought over his travel options.

_Ok, let's think this over. There are mountains to the north and south and certain death to the west. There is something causing smoke to the north but it is probably naturally caused. The only viable option for now is to head east to what appears to be water. If I'm lucky and I come across an ocean, I could follow the coast and avoid this damn heat."_

With his mind made up, Renji began to make his way east when something sparkling nearby caught his eye. Walking over to see what it was, Renji's expression grew somber when he realized just what it was he saw. Leaning against one of the bones just out of sight from where he rested earlier was an unfortunate soul like him. Clad in a tattered and old purple and black robe that seemed to have several patches torn out of it, whoever it was that died seemed to have fought something before expiring. Renji was about to walk away when he noticed something in the skeleton's arms. Clutched furiously against its chest was an old and worn brown knapsack.

As he attempted to pry the bag from the skeleton's grip, Renji began to lament on the similar situation he shared with the skeleton, "I see that I'm not the only one to make it this far into this damn desert." As he managed to pull the bag from the skeleton's hands, break them off in the process, Renji turned back and finished softly, "I wonder if I should consider you lucky that you managed to find a way to escape this oppressive heat."

Taking one last look at the unfortunate remains, Renji opened up the top of the knapsack, "Ok pal, let's see what you were dying to protect so badly." Inside the bag was were some preserved pieces of what appeared to be leather, a couple of empty bottles, some colored rocks, a sealed flask, and a bundle of papers crumbled together along the side of the bag.

Brushing years of dust and sand off the flask, Renji was barely able to read what was printed on it, "Ok, let's see what we have here. It says _Alliance Issue: Footman's Waterskin. Magically preserved for up to 50 years after sealing._" It took a moment for Renji's mind to catch up to what was printed on the flask and when it did, it hit him hard.

"Magically preserved for 50 years. Wait, real magic? I don't know what the hell it means but I hope for my sake that this guy hasn't been dead for longer than that."

Twisting the cork out of the flask with a little effort, Renji took an experimental sniff of the liquid inside just to make sure it was still good. Smelling nothing wrong with it, he took a small sip and swished it around in his mouth tasting it. After swallowing it and feeling nothing wrong, he took a larger drink and almost choked on it.

"Wow," he coughed out as he pounded on his chest to clear his throat, "That has to be the best water I've ever drank." Closing the flask up to save what was left for later, Renji searched through the pack for anything else of value but found nothing except a strange bundle of papers.

He picked up the bundle of papers and held them in his hands, careful to prevent any damage to the obviously old parchment. Pulling the string binding the papers together, he slowly unfurled the pages and noticed that they were all part of the same document. What caught his eye, however, was what was written on it.

Renji could admit that he was astounded when he was able to read what on the flask. So when he couldn't make heads or tails of the scratch marks and weird letters on the papers, he wasn't all that surprised. As he was finishing flipping through the papers and was about to throw them back into the knapsack, Renji noticed a hastily written message on the bottom of the last page. He could see handwritten copies of some of the marks alongside recognizable letters.

Grumbling, Renji tried to read the badly eroded handwriting, "Hmm, what does this say…Damn, it's faded away too badly here to read this part…I have no idea what this says…ok, this part is somewhat clear: 'T_i_ i_ a _st _c_p_ of _e n_n_ c_p_e_ o_ _r_co_i_ _o_ _u_m_s. H_ t_i_ a_ a_ c_st_!'" Renji focused on this one section for a few minutes, hoping to be able to read whatever was missing. When it appeared he wasn't going to be able, he folded up the pages and tucked them into his white kimono for safety.

"Whatever it says, it was important enough for this guy to die over, so I am willing to bet my life that it is worth keeping until I found someone to translate the rest."

As Renji finally walked away from the remains he took shelter in and down the other side of the dune, Renji couldn't help but feel as if this was all Ichigo's fault and that if he ever meets him again, he will kill him twice just to make sure he did a thorough job.

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...

* * *

**_In the Caverns of Time_**

Anyone who has ever met a bronze dragon would say that they are always absent-minded and out of touch with any current events. But no one ever gets truly upset or angry at them for they are the appointed guardians of the timeline. They protect the time stream from those that would seek to rewrite events in their favor and unknowingly doom the entire planet. They are also known to be extremely calm in situations that would cause the most iron-hearted of men to quake in fear and others to collapse. The number of times in history that a fully-grown bronze dragon has been seen to panic could be counted on one hand and for each of those times, terrible or earth-shattering events have occurred soon afterwards. So it can be said with great certainty that anyone visiting the Caverns of Time would be witness to a very rare event indeed.

Over the last several hours the guardians of the Caverns of Time have remained in a perpetual state of panic with the level of fear rising as time went on. As several drakes and dragonspawn hurried about, one of them broke off and ran as fast as her four legs could back towards the central chamber. When she reached it, she was slightly out of breath and was forced to wait a couple of seconds before she could start to mentally summon her superior.

A brief moment passed before a swirling portal popped into existence in front of her and a large bronze dragon walked out. With a swish of his tail, the portal closed behind the dragon. Turning his attention to the kneeling dragonspawn in front of him, his deep voice spoke, **"You are not required to kneel in front of me. I get no satisfaction from such as act."**

Rising back up onto her four feet, the dragonspawn patiently waited as the dragon continued to speak, **"What do you have to report? Have you managed to find any ways to observe the causes of the anomalies?"**

The dragonspawn seemed to hesitate before answering, **"No lord Anachronos. We have been unable to locate the source of the intrusions in the timeline."**

Anachronos, son of the Aspect of Time Nozdormu, seemed to think for a moment, **"I expected as much. Inform me when-"**

**"Wait my lord, there is other news." **Bristling at the interruption, Anachronos nonetheless turned his full attention back to the dragonspawn. While other mature drakes would take offense at being interrupted by a dragonspawn, he knew that she would not do so unless she absolutely needed to.

**"Go on."**

When the dragonspawn motioned for him to follow instead of talking, Anachronos quickly shape shifted into his favorite mortal form of a high elf in order to fit through the narrowing cavern tunnels. It was not long before he was brought before a large glowing model of Azeroth. Every member of the bronze dragonflight knew of this treasure, it was their secret gift from the Titans themselves. The artificial globe was bathed entirely in red and when intrusions and invasions of the timeline were detected, the points at which they occurred would be highlighted as green points.

As they arrived, the dragonspawn turned to him and asked, **"How was your excursion? Have you managed to locate any information concerned what has happened."**

"The excursion has been a failure much like the dozens of other trips my brethren and I have taken. Whatever is here has managed to elude us somehow, "Anachronos answered with no small amount of anger in his voice.

The dragonspawn seemed to shift on her four feet for a second before seeming to remember why she was here. **"As you are already aware of lord," **she said as she controlled the model to shift, facing Tanaris towards them, **"the first intrusion occurred here, about a dozen miles west of the Caverns."** With a few motions, she was able to make the model zoom one, where several other green points where highlighted, **"After you left to investigate, three new anomalies were detected in short order. The first one appeared on the northern half of this continent near the Night Elves, the second near the eastern edge of Northrend, and the third on the north coast of the Eastern Kingdoms."**

After the dragonspawn finished updating him on the situation, Anachronos could not help but rub his hand through his hair in frustration. It had always confused and fascinated him how whenever he took the form of one of the mortal races he would pick up some of the nervous habits as well. He could remember the time during the War of the Ancients when, during a particularly bad event, he had twisted the ears on the female night elf form he was disguised it. As time passed and his duties of protecting the timeline increased, he found that his nervous twitches simply went away on their own.

For the first time in what seems like an eternity Anachronos had no ideas on how to proceed and that greatly bothered him. He was a bronze dragon, a guardian of the time stream and of the events that unfold within it. He was supposed to know exactly when and where an event was going to occur before it did even if he could not act on it or tell anyone about it. These…anomalies as his brethren have come to call them potentially threw out tens of thousands of years of work and beliefs. Thinking back, he remembered that while many beings and creatures have suddenly and inexplicably appeared on Azeorth throughout time, he knew the exact time and place each of them would appear.

These anomalies springing up across Azeroth went against everything that he had been taught. When they started appearing several hours ago, he and several other dragons attempted to figure out their cause by reaching back through the time stream to a few minutes before they appeared. However every time they did so, something would prevent them from viewing them by kicking them back to the point in time from which they traveled.

Anachronos knew that everything leaves the temporal equivalent of a 'finger print' on the time stream. Whenever someone does something or an event occurs, that act leaves a ripple in the time stream that the bronze dragons can trace back. When compared to normal events the anomalies were practically invisible and that made his heart shake in fear. Something that could evade the gaze of the watchers of the time stream and even prevent them from interfering is a cause for great concern.

He was brought out of his thoughts when he realized the dragonspawn in front of him was beginning to nervously wring her claws together, "I want you to personally send the following message to Chronormu in the current time period. Tell him to suspend his investigation of Anderhal and to instead focus on the anomalies. I do not want him to figure out how or why they opened. I want him to study what they released onto the world. I also want you to inform me if any further anomalies appear. I will remain in the caverns in this time for now in order to stay on top of events."

The dragonspawn bowed slightly and ran off down a tunnel.

After the dragonkin left, Anachronos turned as he heard the familiar flapping of Nozari's wings approaching him.

Nozari circled around and landed gently at Anachronos's side, **"While you were gone, I enhanced the defenses near the entrance to the caverns and stationed several veteran guardians to patrol just outside the entrance. We can consider ourselves lucky Anachronos; whatever is approaching us is doing so at a slow pace. We can use that to our advantage. If we cannot fight them throughout the timeline, we can fight them much like the other dragonflights do."**

"Good, good. We should not take any chances. However, someone has volunteered to go and greet the closest anomaly personally."

Puzzled at his reaction, Nozari shifted to the form of a dark haired human woman and voiced her disbelief to Anachronos, "Who could have volunteered for such a potentially dangerous mission? We have no ideas of what the anomalies are capable of since we cannot observe any of them in the time line. We have to destroy them before they have a chance to destroy us"

Instead of answering right away, Anachronos turned to look at the model of Azeroth. Folding his arms behind his back, he told her just how dangerous these anomalies are, "Consider the following scenario Nozari. How would you fight something whose very existence rewrites time?" When she did not answer, he pointed to the model of Azeroth, Nozari could see that around where the anomalies landed, green coloring has replaced the red. "Their very existence is causing events around them to unfold differently and there is nothing we can do to stop it at the moment."

Nozari nodded her head in agreement, "I agree with your conclusion Anachronos. That is why I believe it is best to attack and destroy them as soon as possible. If we can eliminate the anomalies quickly enough, we can limit the spread of the changes to the timeline."

Anachronos slowly shook his head as if scolding an ignorant child, "In most other cases, I would agree with your statement. However we must consider all the possibilities when dealing with a threat as potentially dangerous as this. We don't know how attacking the anomalies would impact the timeline. Attacking one of them could erase you from existence and we both know you still have important missions in the future to deal with. For all of our knowledge of time, when faced with such a threat we are but newly hatched drakes in the midst of a hostile environment."

"If all of that is true, who have you decided to send?"

Laughing, Anachronos responded, "It was not I who sent someone. Rather, they sent themselves."

* * *

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* * *

**_Several Hours Later…_**

Renji stared at the two moons, one white and the lazily hanging against the colorful backdrop in the evening sky.

"I guess this really isn't Earth after all."

Pulling his eyes away from the sky, Renji looked back at the ocean stretching across the darkening horizon in front of him. He had smelled the first hint of the sea over the wind that constantly blew in from off shore not too long ago and while he was upset it wasn't drinkable he still preferred it to the hot desert sands. After all, it should be easier to travel along the relatively temperate coast.

As he got closer to the ocean, Renji had also noticed the large dunes starting to level off. So while he was relieved that he did not have to do any more climbing and his calves thanked him in spades for that, he was more than surprised when he first saw the ship in the rocks.

"Ok, what the hell?" were the only words out of his mouth that came close to breaking down what he saw.

Appearing to jut out of a large boulder near the top of the group of mountains he saw earlier was about half of a large old-fashioned wooden ship, mast and all. Renji could see from where he was standing that it wasn't the result of a shipwreck. First of all, the ship was hundreds of feet in the air and second, it looked brand new. If it was a shipwreck, Renji could have found evidence around the base of the mountains like wood, bodies, and even the other half of the ship; but he could see nothing that hinted at that.

Renji rubbed his eyes with the palms of his hands. He was convinced that what he saw was the result of exhaustion and hallucinating from the long trek through the desert, "If I'm starting to see crap like that, I must really be losing it." Dragging his hands down his face, Renji continued towards the beach.

_"I can hear waves, so at least I'm close to the beach._" A new smell wafted through the air that caused Renji to pause in his walking for a second. His mouth began to water as he realized that what he smelled was cooking meat.

_"This is good news,"_ he thought as he jumped over a rock, _"The smell of cooked meat means a fire and a fire means someone or something lives around here. I just hope that they whoever lives in this desolate world is friendly."_

After a minute or so of running, Renji turned a corner and discovered the source of the smell was a small campfire nestled against a group of rocks near the beach. There was a small sleeping bag on one side of the camp near a rock, a bag of items with some of them tossed haphazardly around the general area and what appeared to be a crocodile cooking over the fire.

Gingerly picking up the stick the crocodile was skewered and roasting on, Renji turned it over and inspected it. Finding nothing wrong with it, he shrugged and brought it up to his mouth, "I never had crocodile before but at this point I'm too hungry to care."

"And just what are you doing?"

Too hungry to pay attention, Renji responded, "I'm about to eat this food."

"You mean my food?"

"Huh?" was the only thing his starving brain could think to say after finally snapping to attention. Reluctantly lowering his meal from his mouth, he turned around to see who was talking to him. What he saw was nothing like he expected.

When he first fell out of the portal face first into the sand, Renji thought he arrived in a place devoid of human life…well, any life in general. When he found that text with the obviously English letters on it he was mildly surprised but thought somehow someone from his world ended up here a long time ago. But actually meeting a human being went beyond coincidence into the realm of creepy. He was reminded of what he was doing when the woman standing by him began to tap her food impatiently.

"I believe you are about to eat my dinner."

Renji's eyes drifted from the woman in front of him down to the piece of meat hanging only a few inches away from his watering mouth. Looking a little embarrassed, he grumbled and put it back on top of the fire where he first found it. "Sorry about that, " he apologized, "I'm just really, really hungry."

The woman's facial expression didn't change as she walked past him and sat down on the opposite side of the fire. Reaching for the meat, she picked it up and with more strength than he expected tore it in two. Handing one half to Renji, she smugly smiled as he graciously took it and began to rapidly devour it.

Taking a small bite and stoking the embers of the fire she asked, "So what brings you all the way to the Tanaris desert with so few supplies?"

Swallowing the large chunk of meat in his mouth, Renji responded, "So this place is called Tanaris? Well, to be honest, this was really kind of a sudden trip. I didn't really expect to come here."

"So did you arrive here through a erroneous mage portal or perhaps you tried using some type of goblin transporter?"

Renji was about to take another bite when he stopped and said, "Whatever you're talking about it was neither of those."

The woman's eyes narrowed at his reluctance to answer her, "One does not simply walk into Tanaris haphazardly. This is a desert after all."

Biting off the last bit of meat, Renji responded with his mouth full, "Yeah well, after what I went through I could care less about your opinion of me."

With the conversation turning into an argument, the two of them sat in relative silence for what seemed like hours. As the sun finally set behind the horizon to the west, the light reflecting off the two moons bathed the shore in an eerie blue and white glow. Shivering slighting from the dropping temperature, Renji held his hands closer to the fire. After a few minutes he solemnly said, "Look lady I hate deserts, cannot stand them whatsoever. I always get sand in my clothes, hair and even my mouth so I try and avoid them like the plague. So finding myself here in the godforsaken place was not high my list of things I want to accomplish."

"I suppose I was a little hasty in my earlier judgment of you," the woman confessed.

"Yeah well, it wasn't a big deal," Renji dismissively said, "I'm sure you had your reasons and all."

"Hmm," the woman hummed as a small smile graced her face, "We have been sitting here for the last few hours and neither of us know the other's name."

"I suppose," Renji confessed, "My name is Renji."

"Renji huh?" the woman asked, "I do not believe I have ever heard of a name quite like that."

"Really?" he asked amazed, "It wasn't that popular back where I'm from either. What about you?"

"That is an interesting question," the woman said, "My name is quite unique to myself in the sense that I have yet to meet someone else with it."

"So what is it?"

"Coridormi."

* * *

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_Well, here is Chapter 2 of my revised story and the first chapter of the Arrival Arc. As you may have noticed, Renji's arrival location is entirely different than in the first story and I feel that the interaction he has are more human, flow better, and allow for a greater deal of character development._

**_Note 1:_**_ I will be using the English vernacular when dealing with names. So instead of the Japanese Abarai Renji, it will be switched to Renji Abarai in order to fit in with the naming of Azeroth_

_As always, reviews are appreciated._

~Bahamut_Reshiki


	3. Arrival Arc: Tatsuki

I do not own the characters, ideas, and/or places from either Bleach or World of Warcraft and their respective universes. Tite Kubo and Blizzard® own them respectively. Any original characters in the story belong to me. Any comparisons to other fan fiction or series characters are entirely coincidental and not intentional.

Hello - Normal Speech

_Hello_ - Thoughts

**Hello** - Demons / Titans/ Inner Hollow/ Dragons / Arrancar Released Form

_**Hello**_ – Thoughts of Demons / Titans/ Inner Hollow/ Dragons / Arrancar Released Form

**Notice 1: **I have taken liberties regarding the backgrounds of several characters.

_Here is the third chapter in my new story and it introduces a character not seen much in the manga but I feel should have had more screen time: Tatsuki. So much could have been done with her character but I digress. If any mistakes are found in my story, please notify me via pm. I do not have a beta reader so I go through several stages of editing by myself. So a mistake is bound to get through every now and then. Now enjoy this addition to my story._

**Well, I did it. I rewrote the entire third chapter completely from scratch. Sure most of the general story remains the same with part of the fight in the ruins staying the same almost word for word. But I fleshed out the fight in the beginning to make it more realistic and even, changed Tatsuki's initial entry into Azeroth, and added in an OC since she will be important in the future.**

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_..._

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**Chapter 3: The Arrival Arc: Tatsuki**

_Somewhere in Darkshore_

Darkshore has always been considered a dark and mysterious place for as long as could be remembered. The cold air wafting down from the peaks of Mount Hyjal clashing with the warm winds blowing from the Veil Sea cast the land in a thick blanket of fog and shadow. Merchants and adventurers alike tended to avoid passing through Darkshore on their way to Teldrassil in order to avoid the dangerous creatures and corrupt tribes of furbolgs. Despite all the dangers in the forest, a group night elves trekked down the main road through the area. While an initial glance would give someone passing by no reason to suspect something, a closer look would show that the group was composed entire of sentinels, the elite warriors and guardians of night elf culture.

The group of sentinels walked silently and with purpose along the road, their bodies never relaxing and their glowing eyes always on the alert for sudden movements indicating an attack. A slightly stockier than normal night elf who appeared to hold herself higher than the rest led the group, her grim expression showing a lifetime of dedication to her service. Clad in battle-scarred green and black plate armor that appeared to have gone through several wars intact, she held one of her moonglaives in a reverse grip, always facing the prisoner in the middle of the group.

Tatsuki kicked a rock with her armored foot as she let out a groan of frustration. With her hands tied in front of her body, the motions she could do to express her annoyance at her predicament was quite limited. She watched the rock sail through the air towards the night elf in front of her, who grabbed it out of the air without looked and crushed it in her hand.

Unable to keep her anger in any longer, Tatsuki finally snapped and shouted, "This is fucked up! How many times do I have to tell you people that I didn't do anything?"

While her outbursts of anger would usually garner some attention back home, even if the person were asking her to shut up, the night elves acted as if she did not exist except as their prisoner. As time passed by and the silence started to become almost deafening, Tatsuki was starting to think that her captures were looking for an excuse to use their weird-looking but dangerous weapons.

After letting a few more minutes of silence pass, Tatsuki turned her head towards the sentinel to her right, "Do you believe these ropes can hold me if you think I did what you said I did?"

Tatsuki snorted and shrugged her shoulders when the night elf ignored her, "Hey, all I'm saying is that I would be careful about pissing me off if I were you."

That last comment managed to get a small response from the night elf as her eyes shifted to Tatsuki and glared at her, the large difference in height between the two women helping to make her look even more intimidating. While she would never admit out loud that it was a tad bit frightening, Tatsuki's stubbornness prevented her from backing down from a potential challenge and she stared right back up at her.

The two stared at each other until the night elf grimaced and turned her eyes back to the forest. Slyly grinning at her small victory, Tatsuki turned to the sentinel on her left and asked, "Don't _you_ want to know my version of what happened?"

Tatsuki was surprised that instead of getting the silent treatment from the new focus of her annoyance, the lead sentinel grabbed her and slammed her back into a tree hard enough to make her armor vibrate and give her a headache. When her dizziness dissipated she saw that the night elf was holding her moonglaive inches away from her unprotected throat.

"If I were you," she said with a tone in her voice similar to that of an adult reprimanding a child. "I would shut up. Our orders were to find what caused the magical disturbance and bring it back if possible. No orders were given to bring you back safe and without harm. So if you do not cease your incessant line of questions, you will find out just how much hospitality we actually have for you."

Tatsuki stared at the sentinel for a moment before reluctantly nodding her head, "Tsk, fine. I'll be a _good_ girl and follow directions."

Pleased at herself for getting the human in line, the sentinel turned back to the road, "Stay sharp sisters! Orcs and trolls have been spotted scouting nearby. Do not let your guard down as we escort the prisoner to Auberdine!"

At once, the other sentinels stood at attention, "As you command, Captain Bylena!"

"Move out!"

With her captors now unwilling to put up with her, Tatsuki tried to think of a method to get out of there. Managing to come up with nothing, she attempted to move her hands only to be reminded that they were bound.

"_Of course!"_

Wriggling her hands, she began fiddling with the ropes. After a few minutes of pointless struggling, she had to admit that whichever guard tied them knew what they were doing. However, the stubborn person that she is, she would not let something like 'impossible to escape from' attempt to slow her down.

The sentinels initially ignored Tatsuki's efforts under the belief that she would give up after seeing how pointless it was. The ropes she was bound with were reinforced with mana so that only one of them could break it. When Tatsuki failed to acknowledge her inability to get free and increased the number of ways she tried to get free, including biting the ropes with her teeth, they finally started to get irritated.

The sentinel to her left was the first to try and stop her, "If you do not stop your incessant and pointless attempts to free yourself you will find yourself unconscious until we reach our destination.

Either Tatsuki was deaf or she just didn't care as she continued to try and untie her hands. The sentinel narrowed her eyes and grit her teeth at the display of insolence.

She was about to give another warning when Bylena ordered, "Disable her." Giving a quick nod, the night elf reared back an arm and prepared to punch Tatsuki.

Unknown to the night elves, Tatsuki's lowered head hid a sly smirk. All in all, her plan to escape was working rather well. She knew that even for these stuck up people, there would come a point where they would be sick of her antics and try and shut her up. When that happens, she will make her move.

As the sentinel attempted to punch her in the face, Tatsuki stopped moving and quickly leaned back as the armored fist was mere inches from her unarmored cheek. When she failed to make contact, the night elf stumbled forward due to the sudden lack of opposition.

Without missing a beat, Tatsuki sprang off the ground and slammed her knee into the sentinel's chin, the spiritual armor helping to increase the damage done. Spittle flying out of her mouth, the night elf yelled in pain as she stumbled backwards. Before any of the other sentinels could react Tatsuki spun around and smashed her left foot into the night elf's face, catapulting her several feet away into a coughing mess on the ground.

The remaining sentinels were stunned at Tatsuki's ferocity. They could not believe that one of their one, who spent decades training her body in various forms of combat, could be taken down in two moves.

"I warned you what would happen if you pissed me off. But did you listen to me? Nooo…"

Before Bylena could give the order to restrain Tatsuki, one of her sentinels raced towards Tatsuki with her moonglaive held at her side. Travelling at a speed most humans would not be able to react to, the night elf's smug look was shattered when Tatsuki ducked under the attack. Before she could think of how to react to this, Tatsuki raised her bound hands and allowed one of the magical blades to cut the ropes binding her hands. Her hands freed Tatsuki yelled and let loose an uppercut to her opponent, smashing her jaws together and knocking her unconscious all in one move.

While Tatsuki was doing this, her opponents were not simply standing by idly. As soon as she had dodged the moonglaive, Bylena gave the order to take Tatsuki down using any amount of force necessary apart from killing her.

"Take her down! Just don't kill her, we need her alive for the moment!"

Taking that as their queue, the two huntresses accompanying the group jumped backwards far away from the others. Before their feet even touched the ground they already had arrowed notched in their bows and aimed at Tatsuki's vitals.

Tatsuki saw the two huntresses move away and quickly started running toward them. As they started firing arrows, Tatsuki dodged or sidestepped the projectiles. Before she reached them, Tatsuki ducked and rolled under a sword that tried to sever her head from her body. Rolling away and quickly getting back up, she saw that it was their captain that just tried to kill her.

"Didn't feel like standing back and letting your women do your dirty work anymore?"

"Hardly," Bylena replied with an arrogant tone, "This travesty cannot continue. You have insulted the sentinels by your blatant disregard and I am going to put a stop to it right her, right now!"

Running towards Tatsuki, Bylena swung her sword down only for Tatsuki to block it by crossing her arms and catching the blade between them, _"Holy crap she's strong! If she swung any harder I would have been knocked to the ground."_

With a grunt Tatsuki pushed her arms up and threw Bylena off balance. As she tried to go on the offensive, a whistling sound through the air forced her to duck and roll to the side, "How could I have forgotten about you two clowns?"

At Tatsuki's ability to continue dodging their attacks, one of them turned to the other with a disbelieving look and said, "How the hell are we supposed to fight her if she keeps managing to evade our arrows?"

"I don't know," her partner responded, "But we cannot let up. Captain Bylena is counting on us to cover for her and that is what we will do. Now stay focused on the fight!"

It is well known that night elf huntresses are among the best archers on Azeroth. While there exist heated debates about whether night elf huntresses, forsaken dark rangers, or even dwarven sharp-shooters are the best it can be said that years of training in unforgiving environments against deadly creatures and intelligent enemies have honed them into some of the best fighters in the night elf culture. To see someone, a human no less, constantly evade their arrows would destroy their confidence with ease.

As she was forced to constantly evade arrows as well as the weapons of Bylena and her sentinels, Tatsuki tried to come up with a plan. _"This is bullshit,"_ she thought as she spun around a thrust and kicked the night elf in the side, _"Every time I try to attack, the rangers fire at me forcing me back to where I started but whenever I go on the defensive the warriors come in hard and fast. I need to take out one or the other before my luck runs out."_

Throwing caution to the wind, Tatsuki ducked under a sentinel's slash but instead of trying to counter it as the huntresses expected she instead ran towards them. The two were startled by her abrupt change in tactics and so only one of them managed to move out of the way as Tatsuki let loose a haymaker on the other, whipping her body around and breaking her bow all in one motion of her arm.

"_I guess the archers are not as durable as the warriors. It would still be easier if I could use some of my abilities. This cooldown timer thing is crap. I could use my abilities as often as I wanted to on Earth and in that Hueco Mundo place. Sure a lot of them took too much time to be usable in battles but I could still use them whenever I wanted. I have to figure out what happened to me when I arrived here but first I have to deal with these guys."_

Tatsuki was brought out of her thoughts when a fist impacted against her less-protected stomach, forcing her to skid back a couple of feet and let out a cough, "Wow, you really don't fight fair do you?"

"Fighting fair has no place in actual combat," the sentinel who attacked her replied. Tatsuki soon noticed that Bylena had somehow circled around to her side and was attempting to box her in.

"Ok," Tatsuki sighed as she flexed her fingers, the metal gauntlets creaking slightly with the motion, "We need to get one thing straight before we continue, I've been kicking your collective asses. Sure you got some good hits in as well, that last punch did have a lot of power behind it, but in the end I am still going to beat you. So do yourselves a favor and give up now."

Instead of responding, Bylena gestured with her hand towards the remaining sentinel and huntress. The odds now three instead of six to one, she felt that she needed to be more cautious with her strategies. Loathe as she was to admit it the human, or whatever it was that looked like a human, was putting up more of a fight than she honestly expected and now she was paying the price for it. Gathering her rage up into a ball she shouted, "I am Captain Bylena Moonstrike and I will not let someone like you make a mockery of all the sentinels stand for!"

Tatsuki let out a groan before slamming a fist into her other palm, "Ok, I gave you guys a warning. Now I am going to have to kick your asses whether you surrender or not!"

* * *

...

* * *

_Two hours earlier_

Tatsuki was thrown out of the portal and was immediately blinded by the abrupt change in brightness. Attempting to block the light by covering her face with a hand, Tatsuki squinting and tried to see where she was. It appeared as if whatever portal she entered decided to play Russian roulette with her exit and for her it just so happened to spit her out several hundred feet above the ground.

"What the fuck?"

Falling towards the ground, Tatsuki was about to focus her spiritual energy to her feet when she felt that something was off. Looking at her body, she saw that she was wearing the armor that she usually could only summon a piece of at a time.

"_Huh, I always wondered what it all looked like when worn at once. If I wasn't falling to my death I would find this awesome."_

Remembering what was happening, Tatsuki shook her head and tried to collect her spiritual energy into the soles of her feet. It proceeded normally as ribbons of silver colored light wrapped around her feet. Just as she was confident she wasn't going to fall, the energy shattered and vanished, leaving her in the same position she started out in.

"_What the fuck is going on? With my armor out I should have no trouble collecting and focusing my spiritual energy."_

Unable to use spiritual energy to float in the air and getting ever closer to the ground, Tatsuki tried to come up with a plan before she demonstrated what happens when a human hits the ground after falling several hundred feet.

"_Come on, think Tatsuki. You didn't come this far just to fall to your death._"

Closing her eyes and concentrating, Tatsuki felt the mental equivalent of a dam break as the familiar feeling of her spiritual energy spread throughout her legs. Opening her eyes, she saw bright golden runes etch themselves all over her armor from her feet all the way to her hands before they abruptly faded. Attempting to touch the one on her forearm, she found it was engraved into her armor as if it was always there.

"This is awesome and all but it doesn't really help me," she muttered as the forest canopy grew closer. Bracing herself for impact, she maneuvered her body around until she was falling feet-first, "This is going to really hurt…"

Tatsuki crashed through the top of the forest with so little of an impact that she thought she hadn't reached it yet. After several seconds of effectively only seeing green and brown, she shot through the bottom and immediately screwed her eyes shut and braced her legs as her feet slammed into a branch that was almost the same width as her height.

When the searing pain of two shattered legs didn't hit her brain, she opened her eyes and saw that branch, which was literally several feet in diameter, was buckling underneath her. A resounding _crack_ echoed through the forest as it shattered into thousands of pieces. With nothing remaining to stop her descent, Tatsuki continued to fall but her speed was slowed enough for her to jump from branch to branch as she finally descended to the ground.

Landing and creating a large cloud of dirt and dust, Tatsuki coughed and waved her hand in front of her face to clear the air. Taking a few steps forward, she found that the forest she landed in was much bigger than she could have imagined. While it was shrouded in a dark fog that made it hard to see, it was still clear enough for her to notice she was completely and utterly lost.

Folding her arms over her chest, Tatsuki tried to think of a possible reason for her armor staying out, the markings appearing on it, and her inability to fly,

"Ok Tatsuki, first things first, these strange markings on your armor."

Focusing on the one on her right hand, she attempted several methods to try and make it glow again from running spiritual energy through it to concentrating on it activating. She was even about to ask nicely for it to work when she caught herself.

"_I'll figure out what they do eventually. But I have to admit, my armor being completely out is nice and I can't seem to feel the massive drain on my spiritual energy that normally occurs whenever I try to bring it out. Not being able to fly is a bother even if I was never the best at it. I guess I will just have to walk until I find help."_

* * *

...

* * *

_30 Minutes Later_

After passing what seemed to be the twentieth identical tree, Tatsuki's temper was starting to flare. Unable to figure out where she was and finding no sign of civilization, she was growing more and more impatient with each passing minute.

Tatsuki cursed as she stumbled and almost fell over an exposed root. Slamming a fist into the tree and smashing the bark, Tatsuki let out her frustration, "Screw this! It's all Ichigo's fault that I'm stuck in the place. If I ever see his sorry face again I will beat his ass so bad he won't be able to sit down ever again!"

As she cackled and schemed at the vengeance she would get on Ichigo, Tatsuki almost walked into a wall as she entered the ruined remains of an old settlement.

Taking a few steps into the ruins, Tatsuki whistled in amazement, "This is pretty interesting, but it's not going to help me." Turning her head around to the misty forest, which seemed to be getting darker, Tatsuki quickly made up and walked into the ruins.

"Ancient ruins means people lived here. If my history classes have taught me anything is that people build homes near important places like a river or ocean. With any luck there might be still living people nearby.

Tatsuki was forced to climb over rubble and overturned walls as she made her way into the remains of some kind of temple. Entering it through a large crack in the back wall, Tatsuki was surprised to find that the only object inside the large circular room was a large life-like statue. The marble statue couldn't have been less than twenty feet tall and showed a woman that seemed to have long ears ending somewhere above her head, a flowing gown and large amounts of jewelry. Walking around to the front of the statue, Tatsuki noticed an engraving on the base.

Blowing some dust off the badly worn writing, Tatsuki could see a single word, "Azshara." Stepping back, Tatsuki looked up at the statue with her hands on her hips, "I don't know what the hell this Azshara was but this woman must have been pretty popular in her time. I mean look at her, she has a figure that could almost rival Orihime or that arrancar that decided to hitchhike with our group back in Hueco Mundo."

Tatsuki exited out the front of the temple and back into the ruins. Looking around, she saw that she was near some kind of large clearing. After a few more steps, she heard sounds that resembled cackling and grunting nearby. Taking cover behind one of the pillars surrounding the temple, Tatsuki pressed her back against the worn stone and waited a few seconds to make sure that she was hidden before peering out from one side.

Across the clearing, Tatsuki saw creatures that looked like gremlins being directed by others that looked like they were the result of a more than platonic relationship between a man and a goat. Narrowing her eyes, Tatsuki noticed that the taller creatures looked remarkably like the satyrs in the 'Greek Mythology' book she was forced to read for class a year or two ago.

"_What the hell is this place? There are ruins that look hundreds of years old, a statue that looks like a human but isn't, and worse of all are the creatures resembling demons roaming around. Wherever I am, it's one screwed up world._"

When Tatsuki heard the sound of small claws scampering across stone, she quickly turned back around the pillar. Standing no more than ten feet away from her was one of the little gremlins. For a moment, both Tatsuki and the gremlin just stared at each other, as if they didn't know what the other would do. Taking the initiative Tatsuki asked, "What the hell are you supposed to be?"

The creature didn't respond. Instead it started jumping around and letting out excited sounds. Worried about being caught by the other creatures, Tatsuki looked to see if the other creatures noticed her and almost missed the ball of fire the gremlin threw at her.

"What the _fuck?_" Tatsuki yelled as she dodged the fireball by moving around the pillar. As the attack hit the pillar and detonated with a loud _bang_, Tatsuki had already taken off across the ruins.

"_What the hell was that?_" she thought she sprinted across the clearing. When she saw the gremlins and satyrs turn in her direction Tatsuki skidded to a stop and changed directions to the closest ruins. As the first fireballs flew over and around her, Tatsuki had to start dodging and jumping to avoid being hit, "_Oh great, now I have even more to worry about._"

Avoiding a final salvo of fireballs, Tatsuki took cover behind a fallen pillar. Kneeling on the ground, Tatsuki winced every time a fireball hit her cover and exploded, raining debris all around her.

"What the hell is wrong with this place?" she yelled over the attacks as she tried to think of a plan to get out alive and not burned. Tatsuki had no experience with dealing with actual demons that could throw _fire_. Sure she had fought a few hollows, but those tended to not have any special abilities or were too stupid to attack her before she dispatched them.

As she sat there with her back to the pillar, Tatsuki heard barking laughter coming from above her. Looking up, she saw that one of the satyrs had climbed onto her cover while she was distracted and was holding a crudely made dagger in his hand.

When Tatsuki just sat and impassively stared at it, the satyr became confused. Normally when its prey is cornered, it pleads for its life or is gripped with mind-numbing fear. This human looked almost _bored_, as if she couldn't be any less bothered by the situation. Roaring with anger, it prepared to stab down into the human when she grabbed his leg and pulled.

As Tatsuki stared up at the satyr, she almost couldn't believe her luck. Rather than having to fight through the fire throwing gremlins to attack the satyrs, one of them graciously offered to come to her. Best of all, it seemed to be gloating in its victory. "_This is almost too good to be true,_" she thought as she grabbed its leg with her hand. Pulling down with enough force to crack its skull, she twisted and slammed the satyr into the ground. As it lay on the ground dazed and in pain, it missed Tatsuki shifted her grip before spinning around and smashing it into the pillar with enough force to instantly kill it and leave a noticeable crack in the marble.

Dusting her hands off, Tatsuki grinned at the dead satyr, "Thank you for making my job easier by walking right up to me. That was very nice of you."

When the other satyrs, expecting their colleague to take care of the sole human, saw him get killed with Tatsuki's bare hands, they backed off from trying to flank her. Staying behind the gremlins, the remaining satyrs barked orders to the gremlins in a language only they could understand. In response, the gremlins started moving forward while still tossing fireballs every chance they could.

Pinned down, Tatsuki looked around and noticed several large chunks of debris. Picking up a piece that must have weighed ten pounds, Tatsuki tossed it up and down a few times and grinned.

"This will do nicely."

Leaning out from behind her cover, Tatsuki threw the rock at one of satyrs ordering the gremlins around. The rock impacted the side of its head and caused it to collapse onto a couple of gremlins. Pleased with her minor victory, Tatsuki still realized that while taking out a couple at a time is nice, it is pointless if more of them just show up to fight.

After throwing a few more chucks of rock, Tatsuki ducked back into cover as several fireballs flew overhead, "_This is pointless. I'm going to be overrun if this keeps up._"

As Tatsuki started going through her options, she was startled when the runes on her right arm started glowing with their initial golden color. Amazed, she turned her arm over and saw that every one of the markings from her shoulder to her wrist, except for the one on the palm of her hand was glowing.

"_Interesting,"_ she thought while backing a few steps away from the pillar,_ "They all just started glowing and for some reason I feel as if I can now do one of my normal attacks. This is messed up but it's the only chance I got of getting out of here unscathed."_

Pushing off the ground, Tatsuki bolted to the pillar and jumped off it into the air, her spiritual armor weighing nearly next to nothing for her. As she reached the top of her ascent, Tatsuki maneuvered her body so her head faced the ground. Extending the fingers on her right hand, Tatsuki concentrated as silvery-white spiritual energy coalesced around her fingertips.

Falling and touching the ground, Tatsuki jabbed her hand forward into the ground, her hand literally melting into it. With her entire hand up to her wrist was in the ground, Tatsuki shouted her attack, "Sigrun's Judgment!"

When her hand melted into the ground, the energy that Tatsuki had built up within it burst outwards and formed into a glowing white circular pattern that enveloped most of the ruin. The satyrs and gremlins only a couple of seconds to admire it before glowing white spiked chains burst out of the ground around them and tightly wrapped around their bodies. As they futilely attempted to get free, Tatsuki looked up and made sure she got every single one of them. Standing up and pulling her hand out of the ground, she raised her right arm and then swung it down in a chopping motion, white energy trailing behind it. As she did so, the chains surrounding the demons tightened and exploded, raining parts of the now dead demons all over the ground.

Standing back up and wiping some dirt off her armor, Tatsuki took in the devastation wrought by her attack with embarrassment, "Looks like I need to train some more."

While she had specifically targeted the demons attacking her and managed to trap them, the explosions afterward were not as accurate as she hoped. When Tatsuki stood up after she finished her attack, everything within a 100-foot radius of her had been obliterated, leaving only burnt stumps of trees, smoking corpses, and destroyed ruins behind. Looking at the runes on her armor with suspicion, she was upset to find that the markings had faded to their normal, dull self once she finished her attack

"I guess I can only use my spiritual attacks when the appropriate runes are lit. That really sucks!" Tatsuki shouted to the forest, "Well, at least no one was around to see that explosion."

"You there! Halt!"

Tatsuki stopped moving when she heard the commanding voice and let out a frustrated groan, "_Of course this happens to me._"

The voice spoke up before Tatsuki had a chance to turn around and see who was speaking, "Are you the one responsible for all this devastation?"

"Yeah, pretty neat huh?" she replied.

"If that's the case, turn around and place your hands in the air! You will not be warned a second time."

Tatsuki turned around and saw that half a dozen purple women resembling the statue she saw earlier were staring intently at her. Seeing that they did not intimidate Tatsuki, several of them raised their bows and tri-bladed weapons at Tatsuki.

After all she just went through, Tatsuki raised her arms in front of her body and tried to come up with an excuse, "Uh…it was an accident?"

Glaring at Tatsuki, the woman who spoke with her turned to one of the other woman, "Tie her hands, I don't want a repeat of what just happened here"

With speed that Tatsuki was not prepared for, the women ran up to her and grabbed her hands and tied them in front of her body all within a couple of seconds.

"Hey, what the hell is this all about?"

"I, Captain Bylena Moonstrike, under the authority of the sentinels in Auberdine place you under arrest."

* * *

...

* * *

_Present Time_

Back in the present Tatsuki let go of Bylena, who slumped to the forest floor with several chunks of her armor missing. Quickly looking armor to see if anyone else was around, Tatsuki grabbed the leather pack off Bylena's waist and took a look through it.

"Let's see what that bitch was carrying around…a couple of maps, some letters, a seal of some sort, a few provisions…gold? She was carrying gold around?"

Reaching into the pack, Tatsuki's hand withdraw six golden coins that had an emblem of a lion on them, "Well, they always said gold is a woman's best friend and right now I agree with that."

Putting the gold back into the pouch, Tatsuki tied it around her own waist. Turning away from the group of unconscious night elves, Tatsuki grumbled as she tried to think of what to do next.

"Now what to do? I'm being hunted by strange purple Amazonian women, demons really exist and my powers are acting weird."

Her armor creaking as she walked, Tatsuki remembered what one of the sentinels said while she was captured, "Auberdine huh? I guess that's as good a place to start as any."

"I hope this adventure ends soon. I still haven't kicked Ichigo's ass yet."

* * *

...

* * *

Here is the entirely REWRITTEN Chapter 3 of my story. If you can remember the original chapter 3, I had Tatsuki's armor originally summoned one piece at a time in order to help convey what power she was going to use. As a reviewer helped point out, but which I suspected for some time, that wasn't going to work. So I made Tatsuki's armor always active with some rules on how she can use her powers and when.

**Note 1:** All of Tatsuki's attacks will have a central theme to them

**Note 2:** I will be posting Tatsuki's attacks on my profile along with their descriptions along with any other original attacks I come up with. I may be using the characters, but I have many ideas for attacks and abilities

**Note 3:** If you want to see what I'm basing her armor on, it's this: camelot .allakhazam epic/valkyrie/valkyrie-original-cats. jpg

As always, reviews are appreciated.

~Bahamut_Reshiki


	4. Arrival Arc: Ichigo

I do not own the characters, ideas, and/or places from either Bleach or World of Warcraft and their respective universes. Tite Kubo and Blizzard® own them respectively. Any original characters in the story belong to me. Any comparisons to other fan fiction or series characters are entirely coincidental and not intentional.

Hello - Normal Speech

_Hello_ - Thoughts

**Hello** - Demons / Titans/ Inner Hollow/ Dragons / Arrancar Released Form

**_Hello_** – Thoughts of Demons / Titans/ Inner Hollow/ Dragons / Arrancar Released Form

**Notice 1: **I have taken liberties regarding the backgrounds of several characters.

**Notice 2: **Several characters might act a little out of character from their canon counterparts. Not much but it may be noticeable in some areas.

_This chapter may seem a little dark at times but you have to remember that Ichigo is travelling through the Duskwoods, one the most haunted places in Azeroth and an overall creepy place to travel through by foot. It doesn't help that the background music is chilling as well._

**Edit: 5/27 – **I went through and fixed a lot of the grammatical mistakes cleared up a few instances where the text seemed to repeat itself.

* * *

...

* * *

**Chapter 4: Ichigo's Arrival**

_Northwestern Duskwood_

"Oh crap!"

If anyone brave or crazy enough to travel through Duskwood heard that noise they would have two reactions. First they would be startled by the sound of someone _stupid_ enough to yell in the middle of this place. They would then start panicking and running away, knowing that they were not the only one to hear it. However the source of the noise had no inkling of this as he literally jumped out of the swirling black portal that appeared just seconds ago.

Still unaccustomed to the change in light, Ichigo exited blinded for a few moments,_ "Oh crap, I just got thrown out of wherever I was and now I'm falling and I still can't see._"

As he was trying to think of a plan to not fall to his death, Ichigo felt his foot land on the soft ground seconds after exiting the portal. Now able to see without wincing, he turned around and saw before the portal disappeared that he only fell a couple of feet.

"…That was anticlimactic," he drawled out as he stretched his back, "Usually things like that go horribly, horribly wrong and end up transporting me to the middle of a battlefield, an enemy's stronghold, or somewhere really creepy."

As he finished adjusting and dusting off his Shihakusho, Ichigo finally took a good look at his surroundings, "Now, where the-"

Ichigo found that he was standing alone at the top of a slight rise in the terrain in the middle of a dark forest bathed in perpetual dusk. Looking around, he saw that the entire forest was covered in a dense white fog that hugged the ground in wisps.

Grabbing the bridge of his nose in frustration, Ichigo let out a groan, "Of course this is where I land. I just couldn't land somewhere nice like a beach or somewhere where monsters don't live."

Taking another look, Ichigo saw glowing yellow and red eyes staring at him from the tops of distant trees and bushes.

"The glowing eyes aren't exactly comforting either. Wait a second, what's that?"

While staring at the eyes and silently daring them to attack, Ichigo noticed something in the distance. Squinting to get a better look, he saw that it seemed to a fire.

"Well," he started saying as he walked toward the light, "Fire means people and I don't care if I meet villagers with pitchforks and torches, I just need to see people.

As he approached the source of light, Ichigo began to get the vibe that he was no longer alone in the woods. While he has felt uneasy since starting his journey, something recently set off all the warning bells in his mind that told him to be on his guard. Stopping for a second, he gripped Zangetsu with his right hand and took a careful look at his surroundings. Unable to find anything more out of the ordinary than the forest itself, he slowly began to continue walking towards his destination.

"Damn place is starting to get to me. I really need to get out of here."

It wasn't long before he managed to find out what the source of light was. Approaching the lantern that drew his attention all the way back from where he landed, Ichigo scoffed and picked it up off the hook it was hanging from.

"This is what I was following? Damn, I thought it would be a campfire maybe a house."

Looking around using the lantern to see better, Ichigo found that he was at the entrance to what seemed to be an abandoned town.

Sighing, he started to make his way into the town, "An abandoned and run-down town in the middle of a creepy forest in the middle of the night? Yeah, this won't end in disaster."

Entering the town, Ichigo tried to find out if, on the off chance, someone was still living here.

As he entered the town, Ichigo walked along the side of the road as he looked into the various buildings. Stopping at a particular one, he used his elbow to smash the remaining glass in the window and stuck the lantern inside to get a better look. Expecting an empty room, he was surprised to find it still full of furniture and people's belongings.

"Whoever was living here left in a hurry to leave everything behind."

After a search of a few more buildings, Ichigo concluded that he was all alone. "Tsk, guess I'm the only one here. Maybe I should move-" his words were cut short as he noticed something lying on the edge of a long-disused fountain. Making his way over, Ichigo put down the lantern and found that it was a book of some kind. Looking it over and flipping through the remaining pages, he noticed that it did not seem that old and weathered for something that was sitting in the open for so long.

"This must have been someone's journal. Let's see if it can shed some light on what happened in this ghost town."

_Day 6,_

_The crypt to the northwest was the first to be taken by the menace_

_Lost several good men failing to close up the gates to the inner sanctum_

_Worried about the extent of the tunnels below town_

_Need to get help before the town is lost_

_The men have started to burn the bodies instead of burying them_

_I think it's too late_

Ichigo finished reading the entry twice before flipping the page. Noticing several ripped out pages, he turned to the next page that he could read, _"This is weird, I wonder if this journal explains what happened here? Here is the next entry."_

_Day 15,_

_The area to the north and west of the town is taken, no chance of leaving to Stormwind that way_

_Woke up this morning to find a dozen people missing from their beds_

_Found a girl's doll stuck on the gate leading to the cemetery, dared go no further_

_The watch send out pleas for assistance to Darkshire several days ago_

_No responses, beginning to suspect the couriers never made it there_

Ichigo stared at the entry for a moment before turning the page, "What the fuck happened here? Was there an attack or something much worse?"

_Day 21,_

_Only about 20 of us left out of 300_

_Cannot believe this only started 3 weeks ago_

_John took his family and left for Darkshire yesterday_

_Their horse came back half-crazed covered in dried blood_

_The others want to band together and leave before the noon sun_

_I'm apprehensive, but I want to leave as well_

_Don't think we'll last another day or two if we stay_

Ichigo finished reading the entry and noticed it was the last page, "Is this the last entry? Did whoever wrote it make it out. Flipping the journal closed, Ichigo noticed something scribbled on the back of the last entry.

_Made it back without being seen_

_Only one left out of the ones that set out_

_Everyone who remained behind is gone_

_I'm all alone_

_Taking the last horse and heading east_

_Perhaps I can make it if I leave now_

_Whoever finds this, leave the town at once_

_It's overrun by the Scourge_

He closed the journal and tucked it into a pocket as he started to walk out of the town as quickly as possible, "_Whatever happened here happened recently. I need to leave now_." Picking the lantern back up, he quickly found the main entrance to the town. As he was about to pass through the gates, he heard a noise on the wind. Turning back around to see if anything was following him, he saw the town as abandoned as ever but echoing from the north was the sound of moans and rattling and it was coming closer.

Ichigo had years of knowledge on how to deal with what he thought was approaching him, so he said the only logical thing as he dropped the lantern and ran away, "Oh, hell no. I'm out of here now!"

* * *

...

* * *

_Several Minutes Later_

Sometime after leaving the abandoned town, Ichigo stopped running to catch his breathe. Standing up after a moment, he found that he was travelling on a suspiciously well-maintained road. While he was initially curious as to who in their right minds would build a road in this place, he eventually realized that perhaps the road just travels through the forest and that if he follows it, it will lead him out of here.

"It's not the best plan, but it is a plan and I have no desire to head back the other way."

A few minutes later a faint whispering caught Ichigo's attention. Stopping to listen and straining his ears, Ichigo could make out a few random words every now and then. Now curious as to who was talking he walked off the road and into the brush leading into the forest. While he was glad there were people in the place, a part of his mind was still suspicious, "_It's not that I'm not glad to find real people here, it's just something about all this seems…strange. Why are their people meeting in the middle of a dangerous forest and what is it about that one voice that just rubs me the wrong way?"_

Carefully making his way through the brush, Ichigo eventually found himself near a ledge overlooking a small clearing. When the voice began speaking from below the ledge, he dropped to the ground and slowly crawled to the ledge. While he would usually just walk up to the people and introduce himself, something about this entire situation feels wrong.

Reaching the edge, Ichigo slowly stuck his head out to see who was talking. Looking down, he realized that there was only one person in the clearing below the ledge. Draped in a black cloak with red trim around the hood, arms and legs whoever was wearing it made damn sure with the hood pulled up that no one would be able to see who they were. The figure paced back and forth in the clearing while angrily mumbling phrases including 'late', 'seen', 'punishment', and 'caught.'

After hearing the voice up close, Ichigo was able to determine that the figure was a woman, "_What is she talking about and why is she angrily pacing around in the middle of this forest?_"

Ichigo layed there for several minutes watching the woman pace back and forth. Just as he was getting frustrated and prepared to leave, he heard heavy footsteps approach the clearing from the side. Ducking back down, he saw a large figure clad in dark gray and black armor approach the woman. What drew his attention the most was the fact that his breath seemed to freeze as it left his mouth and the large silver blade strapped to his back. As the figure turned to look around the clearing, Ichigo could see that the blade was covered in glowing blue and white rune-like letters.

Focusing on suppressing his presence as best he could, Ichigo tried to piece together what was going on. _"This just keeps getting stranger._"

"_First of all, who the hell are these people?_" Ichigo thought as he tried moving closer without being seen. "_And something about the woman just doesn't feel right. While the newcomer looks tough, I'm pretty sure I can easily take him down if given the chance. But the woman, I just can't read her._"

The woman looked around the clearing one last time, forcing Ichigo to actively avoid being spotted when her gaze turned upwards. After a moment, she turned to the newcomer, "Are you absolutely certain you arrived alone? We cannot afford to be compromised at this juncture in the plan."

The armored figure huffed in annoyance and folded his arms over his chest at the tone in the woman's question. Ichigo could literally feel the hatred for the woman waft off his echoing voice as he answered, "While I find that your question only illustrates your paranoid and untrusting nature and see no real need to answer, I still will. So yes, I did in fact arrive alone. Would it help you feel better if I go out and search Duskwood for worgen and some lost bandits?"

The woman seemed to bristle at his veiled insults before quickly composing herself, "While I did not miss your charm and hospitality, I do believe that is not the reason we are here. Tell me, how is the status of our plan? Is everything proceeding smoothly? No setbacks?"

"The plan is moving along as quickly as it would if you did not constantly ask. My master is doing his part of the plan and he will not be pleased if he were to find out you doubted his abilities."

"I do not and will not care about your master's state of mind!" she responded angrily at the threat, "He and I both know just how much the outcome will impact the both of us."

The man chuckled a little after hearing the woman get angry, his echoing voice creeping Ichigo out. "Ah, so there are some things that can still aggravate a woman of your age. That is good to know for the future. Now, as for your various questions…" the man trailed off here and turned to look in the woods.

When the man's eyes focused on the ledge where Ichigo was, he saw nothing and shifted his focus elsewhere. Up on the ledge Ichigo was spread eagle on his back not daring to breathe in case they heard it. The man did not start talking for a few more minutes and even when he did, Ichigo dared not move.

"As for your question, my master knows how important this plan is. He realizes that if it were to fail, the outcome would be…bad for both parties."

The woman seemed to take exception to the pause in the man's answer, "You think if Varian is found it will be just 'bad' for the both of us? Let me break down to you in simple terms what will happen if he returns."

Even being unable to see what was happening; Ichigo could tell that the woman was going to count the reasons using her fingers.

"First of all, Varian will inform the leaders of the Alliance who kidnapped him and how they did it. This news will eventually filter to the Horde and so you will have two large and powerful coalitions who will stop at nothing to figure out what your master is up to," the woman paused for a moment and Ichigo took the opportunity to crawl back to the edge of the cliff and see what was happening.

Sticking out a second finger, the woman continued, "Oh, and if the Horde finds out, you know the Forsaken will as well. Your master is not exactly on friendly terms with Sylvanas at the moment is he? How long do you think it will take her and her little band of undead to piece together your master's plan and counter it with ease?"

"Third, Varian's return means that my identity will be revealed, there is no doubt about that. Varian knows well enough that I played a large role in having him captured and Marshal Windsor no doubt gave Varian his suspicions of me before I removed him from the equation. Several of the men assigned to kidnapping him also gloated about it before I had them liquidated. When he returns he will come straight for me with vengeance foremost on his mind and since I do not wish to be killed, I will tell him everything I know about our little _alliance_ in order to buy enough time to get away."

When the woman finished, Ichigo turned to look at how the man would respond. Instead of attacking her as he thought, the man instead broke out into a fit of laughter that did not seem natural. After a minute or so, he managed to compose himself and looked at the woman with narrowed glowing eyes.

"I would watch what your tongue says harpy. My master has put a lot of time and resources into this plan and he will not let you sabotage it with your fear of death," the man let out another chuckle as the woman seemed to stiffen. "You did not think that we knew how your kind behaves under the fear of death? When my master realizes your disguise is about to be revealed, he will make sure that you have the glory of dying long before you could utter so much as a syllable to anyone."

"Oh?" the woman's tone seemed to suggest sarcasm in the reply to the threat. "You really think that you have the ability, no, the _power_ and _skill_ necessary to take me? Don't be so arrogant."

The man chuckled at her insult, "Who ever said it would be me that would have the glory of killing you? While I would love to do so, I really would, we both know that there are others who possess power far beyond what I can wield and what you can handle."

"Ah but you are admitting that you're weaker than me. I never thought I would hear those words pass through your mouth."

Above the two conversing figures, Ichigo had pieced together what was happening.

"_Ah shit. These people are involved in some sort of large-scale kidnapping scheme. What do I do?_" Thinking it over, Ichigo realized that attacking the pair and demanding to know where this 'Varian' was wouldn't help. Judging by the woman's tone, she has no idea where she sent him and the man seemed to play a very small part in the overall plan.

"_He's probably just a messenger for this 'master' of his he keeps mentioning._" Ichigo's thoughts trailed off as he tried to think of how to get away without getting caught.

Suddenly Ichigo's innate danger sense started screaming. Quickly looking up, he saw a large ball of purple and black fire falling toward him. With a quick burst of shunpo he reappeared several meters away on the ground as the fireball impacted where he was just lying. He barely had enough time to catch his breath before the ground beneath him started glowing orange.

"_Oh shit!_"

Another burst of shunpo moved Ichigo just as the ground erupted in a column of white flames. As he looked around for the source of the attacks, he quickly ducked under a lance of fire that burned through the tree behind him. Spinning around and avoid a second lance, Ichigo used several bursts of shunpo to flee the general area and reappeared behind a boulder several dozen meters away. Leaning against it, he carefully peeked out from the side to try and find his attacker.

"_What the fuck is going on here? I need to get out of here and think of a plan._"

"I would be sorely disappointed if you were thinking of leaving the party so soon, my little spy."

Instead of immediately responding, Ichigo took the time to assess the situation. The woman was able to sneak up on him and launch several attacks while leaving him with mere seconds to react. "_She thinks she is playing with me, that I am no threat to her. That could work to my advantage._"

"Call me whatever you feel like, I still managed to hear everything you talked about. All that is standing between me and exposing your plan is you and I don't think you can stop me."

The woman stood there staring at him for a few seconds before a derisive laugh escaped her throat. Reaching up, she grabbed the hem of her hood and pulled it down, allowing Ichigo to see her face for the first time. The woman before him had long black hair that seemed to shine in the dusk and cold blue eyes that tried to pierce his soul.

Ichigo let out a mocking chuckle of his own, "You seem to find this situation funny for some reason. From where I'm standing, I have a sword and you don't. I think the odds are a little in my favor."

"A sword is nothing to one such as me. I have no _need_ for such a barbaric weapon," the woman responded condescendingly as she snapped her fingers several times.

Ichigo's eyes widened as he saw several smaller versions of the earlier fireball pop into existence and shoot toward him. Quickly grabbing Zangetsu off his back, he swung the zanpakuto into a couple of the fireballs, knocking them off. Once he managed to deflect the fireballs aimed directly at him, he used a burst of shunpo to avoid the rest and reappear to his left.

While Ichigo was easily defending himself from her attack, several thoughts were racing through the woman's mind, "_This human is a lot more dangerous that I initially calculated. Not only did he avoid my Fire Blasts and Fire Lances with a technique I never witnessed before, but he is using a simple blade to defend against my Fire Missiles which have enough heat to melt steel but his blade doesn't have a scratch on it._"

Clapping slowly to conceal her confusion the woman slowly walked towards Ichigo, who raised Zangetsu in front of his body, "You are rather fascinating. First you avoid my attacks at point-blank range without any damage and now you defend yourself against my magic with but a simple sword. Tell me, what is the name of such a marvelous technique and its wielder?"

While she thought she was clever, Ichigo had enough experience dealing with people like her to see through it, "You really don't need to know who I am and what I can do. In fact, the only reason you are asking is to buy yourself some time, am I right?"

The woman sighed and shrugged, "I was hoping you would be more reasonable, but I guess you are simply just a human. You humans are all loud, rude, demanding, and have no sense of when you are in the presence of your betters."

About to retort, Ichigo paused when something about the woman's words caught his attention, "Wait, why do you keep calling me human?"

"You have no idea who you're talking to, do you?" the woman asked amused at Ichigo's question. Instead of answering, she turned around and started to walk away.

"Bloodhaze, please make yourself useful and dispose of this annoyance. I have to return before my disappearance is noticed."

Ichigo was about to chase after the woman when he heard footsteps rapidly approaching him. Twisting around, he saw the man from before running towards him with his sword raised.

As Ichigo was about to parry the attack, the man jumped into the air and swung down, "Now you die!"

Ichigo had barely enough time to raise his zanpakuto before their blades clashed. The impact between the two blades was so intense that the ground beneath Ichigo was pushed down by the strength of the man's attack.

While Bloodhaze attacked Ichigo, the woman walked away thinking that their little spy problem was taken care of. So she was greatly shocked when she heard Bloodhaze groan and then saw him _fly_ past her through a tree and then into another, sliding down to the ground nearly unconscious.

Spinning around in a mixture of shock and awe, she saw Ichigo resting Zangetsu on one shoulder while stretching the other. Quickly looking down, she was stunned to see Bloodhaze's runeblade lying shattered on the ground.

"That was a good attack," Ichigo admitted as he shifted his sight from the downed Bloodhaze to the woman, "But it just wasn't good enough to take me down. Now, where were we?

Instead of responding, the woman claps her hands together and blows into them, causing them to alight with a purple flame. Spreading them apart, the flames encircling her hands shot out and surrounded her and the fallen Bloodhaze in a dome of purple and black flames.

"You bastards! I'm not going to just let you get away!"

Over the roar of the crackling flames, Ichigo could hear the woman respond to him, "Say what you will, but I will not subject myself to a fight against one who shows such unique abilities." In between the flickering tongues of flames, Ichigo could see the woman walk over to Bloodhaze, who was now leaning against the tree he collided with, and rested one hand on his shoulder, "But I must thank you. You both managed to entertain me on what was supposed to be a boring trip as well as knocking this idiot out."

Snapping her fingers, a blue haze started near the woman's feet. As it traveled up her body, both she and the man began to disappear. Once they were completely gone, the purple flames surrounding them vanished and Ichigo grit his teeth.

"Damn, they got away."

Knowing that there was nothing else he could do, Ichigo started to walk back to the main road as he thought back to when he had to shunpo to avoid the woman's attacks, "_Something weird is going on here. Using shunpo does not usually take so much effort but here it almost left me breathless for a moment. I'm just glad I could get her to talk to regain my breath before that man tried to attack me_."

As he reached the road, Ichigo realized the situation he was in, "Well Ichigo, look at the mess you got yourself into this time. Landing in a creepy forest, walking through an abandoned town, and then managing to get yourself involved in a large-scale kidnapping conspiracy. This day just keeps getting better and better."

* * *

…

* * *

_Under Stormwind Keep_

In a large stone room devoid of anything except for the candles lining the walls at equal intervals, a glowing blue circle blinked into existence in the exact center of the flow. It stood there for a second before arcs of energy sparked from the edges towards a spot avoid the center of the image. After a few moments, the sparks of energy coalesced and formed a swirling blue vortex.

It wasn't long before two figures emerged from the vortex. The first to emerge walked out with almost a skip to her step and a smirk on her face while the other limped out holding one of his shoulders in pain.

Without even the slightest bit of worry for her companion's welfare, the woman turned and calmly demanded, "I want to know _exactly_ what happened to you back when you attacked that human."

Bloodhaze did not respond right away, no doubt still humiliated from his defeat. Eventually he withered under her intense gaze, "I…I cannot describe what happened with just words."

"What do you mean you cannot? Usually you take great pride in mocking my questions and here you are groveling in the dirt like a lost child."

"What happened when I attacked the boy…cannot be described in the sense of telling you 'I did this' and 'he did that.'"

Giving up on getting a straight answer from him, she sighed and conceded, "Fine, just tell me what you can."

He nodded before starting his explanation, "When my runeblade hit his sword I fully expected one of two options. Either he will parry my attack and the fight will continue or his blade will shatter leading to his death. However, I did not expect what happened to happen."

Trying to see where he was going with this, the woman tried to preempt him, "Yes, yes. I know about him shattering your runeblade. Just go have another forged and get over it."

Bloodhaze grumbled but did not retaliate, "It was not so much the shattering of my runeblade. It was the fact that when our blades clashed I swore I felt a presence in the boy's blade lash against my blade just before it shattered. It stunned me long enough for the boy to grab me and throw me with one hand."

Digesting what she just heard, the woman took a few seconds to think before she responded, "If I am hearing this correctly, this human has enough physical strength to throw you through a tree and greatly damage another and his blade seemingly has a presence strong enough to shatter a runeforged blade?"

Instead of answering her question, Bloodhaze turned away and drew a symbol in the air with his right hand. A second later a purple and green portal appeared, "I must go report this to my master at once. No doubt he will be very interested in our encounter."

"Be sure to include the part where you were utterly manhandled and I had to save your hide."

Bloodhaze didn't respond to the taunt and simply stepped through the portal as it disappeared.

The woman doesn't linger long and heads for the wooden door leading out of the room. After using her magic to make sure no one was outside, she opened the door and stepped out into Stormwind Keep. After the rebuilding of the city after the orcs razed it to the ground, the keep was made larger and grander than ever before. This meant that there were a lot of rooms used for storage or not even used at all, which was perfect for teleporting into the keep without being noticed. All she needed was a few strong anti-magic wards and no one would notice unless she wanted them to.

Walking down the carpeted halls, the woman could not get that human off of her mind, "_What is it about that human that intrigues me so much? It is his instantaneous teleportation technique that most mages across Azeroth would kill each other over or is it his monstrous strength that can throw a man, fully clad in armor, through a tree? I must investigate this aberration further. However…_" Her train of thoughts ended abruptly as an idea came to her mind.

"…_if I can get him to help me, it could be advantageous against Bloodhaze's master when he finally tries to betray me._"

Determined in her new plan, she almost didn't notice being approached by one of the castle guards, "There you are, we have been looking for you for a while my Lady."

Without skipping a beat, she slipped into her known persona, "Yes, what is it that you need?"

"It is not me my Lady, it is Lord Fordragon. He had urgent news and he requests your presence in the throne room at once."

"Thank you for the message. Tell Bolvar that Katrana Prestor is on her way…"

* * *

...

* * *

*I actually had a blast writing this chapter. I know that the theme of the story is adventure, but it is hard to write about Duskwood without including at least some aspects of a horror story. I initially planned for Ichigo to travel through the graveyard but I couldn't get the story to work out the way I wanted…so the town was my next choice. In the end, it actually worked out better this way.

*As i have stated in my profile, Katrana Prestor is alive and well in my story. I have plans for her so don't go making up conclusions on whether she is going to die or live just yet.

*As always, reviews are welcome.

~Bahamut_Reshiki


	5. Arrival Arc: Uryu

I do not own the characters, ideas, and/or places from either Bleach or World of Warcraft and their respective universes. Tite Kubo and Blizzard® own them respectively. Any original characters in the story belong to me. Any comparisons to other fan fiction or series characters are entirely coincidental and not intentional.

Hello - Normal Speech

_Hello_ - Thoughts

**Hello** - Demons / Titans/ Inner Hollow/ Dragons / Arrancar Released Form

_**Hello**_ – Thoughts of Demons / Titans/ Inner Hollow/ Dragons / Arrancar Released Form

**Notice 1: **I have taken liberties regarding the backgrounds of several characters.

_Well, here is the fifth chapter to my rewrite. As you will read, I have decided to keep where Uryu lands the same only because it was one of the few things from my first story that I had planned out correctly. However, while he arrives in the same place, the series of events will not be the same. Now without any further delay, enjoy and don't forget to review!_

* * *

_..._

* * *

**Chapter 5: Uryu's Arrival**

_In Northern Tirisfal Glades_

The first thing that Uryu felt when he left the portal was pain as he eyes were forced to adjust to the new lighting. Unable to see anything, he was caught unaware as his back hit the surface of the water hard, causing him to start tumbling. This led to the second thing that he felt after arriving: nausea.

Thankfully, he only skipped over the water several times before he lost enough momentum to sink below the surface. Due to his disorientation and nausea from the entry, it took him a few seconds to realize he was unable to breathe and quickly swam to the surface.

Floating on the surface, Uryu coughed out some water he accidently swallowed and took his first look at his surroundings while he was not spinning around. It took only a moment before a deadpan expression appeared on his face.

"Well…this is not where I expected to end up."

Wherever he was, it was one of the most depressing places he has ever been, with a sickly green and black sky and a distant shore littered with the bones of large creatures.

"_This is a rather strange place. I have no idea where I am but what I do know is that staying in this cold water is not good. The best course of action would be to swim to shore and find a place to rest. Once I have that, I could take a look around to figure out where I landed."_

His mind made up Uryu swam to shore, careful to avoid the rocks that jutted out of the water.

A few minutes later Uryu tiredly waded onto the sand and collapsed onto his hands and knees, his wet clothes dripping water onto the ground.

"_What's going on? I should not be this tired."_

A few minutes passed before he had the strength to stand up. Once he managed to do so, he looked down and realized that his quincy outfit was soaking wet.

"Why didn't I bring a spare outfit like in the Soul Society?" It was only a second later that he palmed his face as he realized what he just said, "What am I saying, it's not like I imagined traveling through a collapsing dimensional hole and crashing into an ocean."

While doing his best to squeeze as much water out of his clothes as possible, Uryu's heard what sounded like mumbles and gurgles coming from down the shoreline. Looking up, he almost couldn't believe what he saw.

"What the hell is that?"

The creature, which resembled a cross between a frog and a fish, walked out from behind one of the giant skeletons. It noticed Uryu almost immediately and pointed at him while barking in its weird language. Uryu was confused as to what it was doing until a second creature appeared alongside the first. The two creatures seemed to converse for a moment before suddenly breaking into a run toward Uryu, their mouths of sharp teeth snapping at him.

It didn't take a genius like him to know what was going to happen.

"_This is not a pleasant situation. I refuse to use my abilities on living creatures so I will have to simply fend them off until they decide to give up."_

When the first creature reached him, he easily dodged around its claws and immediately jumped backwards the bite from the other one.

"_I have to give them credit,"_ he thought as he continued to easily move around the uncoordinated and straightforward attacks, _"They are tenacious creatures."_

"You things are persistent, I'll give you that. But surely you can see that you cannot harm me."

The creatures did not seem to acknowledge Uryu and kept trying to attack him. Sighing in resignation, he decided to end this as soon as possible and went on the offensive.

Pivoting around one creature, he struck out with his leg and kicked it with enough force to launch it several feet into the air before it crashed unconscious on the ground. Turning around to face the other creature, Uryu had a bad feeling when it let out a loud shriek. Before long, he heard a chorus of replies from down the beach in the direction the two creatures came from and they seemed to be getting closer.

Running and kicking the other creature away from him, Uryu realized his plan of refusing to kill these creatures is coming to bite him in the ass.

While watching the horde of creatures approach him, Uryu quickly tried to think of a plan, _"Two options. I have two options here. I can either run away and hope to outrun these things or I stay and finish the fight here and now."_

It took only a second for him to realize what needed to be done in order for him to leave the beach unharmed. Sighing in regret, he extended his right arm in front of his body and allowed his quincy cross to dangle down from around his wrist.

"_So, I have no choice then."_

"I will confess, I did not want to have to use my Ginrei Kojaku on you creatures. It is a weapon designed to save lives, not take them. What I am about to do goes against everything my grandfather taught me but you have left me little choice in the matter with your refusal to stand down. I am truly sorry it has come to this."

As Uryu formed his spiritual weapon in his right hand, the creatures momentarily paused and looked at each other while pointing to the weapon. This hesitation was all the time that he needed as he solidified his stance and pulled back on the spiritual bow. Aiming his bow into the air above the creatures, he formed a single arrow and released it skyward.

"Jagd Pfeil."

Uryu considered himself somewhat of a smart person. While he knew he could probably hit all the creatures with arrows before they managed to get to him, his innate ability to sense spiritual fluctuations and pressure told him that something was wrong and that using the minimal amount of spiritual energy would be the best course of action.

When the arrow left his bow, it started spiraling in the air before splitting into dozens of smaller arrows that instantly homed in on each of the creatures with perfect accuracy. As the attacks collided with their targets, some of them hit with enough force to cause several of the creatures to bounce against the ground before lying unmoving on the ground.

The threat now gone, Uryu allowed his bow to disperse into its constitute spiritual particles and went over to inspect one of the creatures now that they weren't trying to kill him.

"_Ok, let's see exactly what I was dealing with."_

As he flipped the closest creature over onto its back, Uryu gagged a little at the stench wafting off of it. His attack had pierced completely through its stomach and somehow released one of the worst smells he had every smelt.

"Crap that stinks," he muttered while covering his mouth and nose with his sleeve.

Repressing the urge to vomit, Uryu continued examining the creature while taking as few breaths as possible.

"_It appears to be some type of bipedal amphibian. But there are so many conflicting characteristics I cannot determine what genus it's from."_

After a few moments of looking over the creature, Uryu stood back up and wiped the hand he used to flip it over on his pants, "Ugh, I don't know what these things are but they feel disgusting."

"They're called murlocs stupid."

While stunned at the voice speaking to him as if she was standing right next to him, Uryu knew that the owner of the voice was hiding her presence. Masking his apprehension, he calmly looked around the surrounding area for potential hiding spots the voice was echoing from.

It wasn't long before the voice spoke up again, amusement in her voice, "Aw, are you looking for me? How sweet."

With experience dealing with people like her, Uryu knew exactly what to say to remain in control of the situation; "I was simply looking for you in order to express my gratitude for the clarification on what I was dealing with. However, talking to you now is forcing my mind to consider whether you have an ulterior motive for talking with me."

A light, airy chuckle came down before the voice responded, "My, aren't you polite for a human. When I encounter humans they usually start running away in terror or become arrogant and rude."

Something about what she said intrigued Uryu, _"What did she mean by humans? Is she not a human? Could she be one of those arrancar we fought before arriving here?"_

Adjusting his glasses, Uryu tried to stall for time as he expanded his senses to locate the voice.

"You seem to be amused at my predicament. To me it seems that you are the one being rude when you don't offer to help someone in need of assistance."

"It didn't look like you needed help."

"Whether or not I needed help is not the point. But seeing that you are someone who enjoys being ambiguous, I suppose that is going to be the best answer I get. I would like to know who am I speaking with though."

You want to know my name huh? I don't want to tell you," the voice paused for a moment before resuming, "Well, I do suppose I can at least tell you that I am a dark ranger and I will be the one to kill you."

"Dark ranger huh?" Uryu replied, not liking the direction the conversation was heading. "Is that supposed to hold any major significance?"

For the first time in the conversation, the voice lost its airy tone and replied coldly, "Even humans know what a dark ranger is. We are the vanguard of the Dark Lady's forces, the best archers in all of Azeroth. She gives the order and we carry it out without failure."

Uyru processed what the woman told him, _"Interesting, apparently this woman reports to another known as the 'Dark Lady' but I have never heard of such a name. Furthermore, she seems to take great pride in being better then humans. If I play my cards right, I could use that against her."_

"Well," he said as he polished his glasses on his shirt, "You were one of the best. Now that I'm here, you can simply try and catch up to where I am."

"If you think you are going to antagonize me, you are mistaken. Although I will admit your attempt is rather…conniving."

"_I have to change things up if this is going to work. I need a little more time to triangulate where her voice is coming from"_

"Your Dark Lady must not be as omnipotent and powerful as you claim she is if she allowed someone like me to arrive so easily."

"Why you-"

Continuing his tirade, Uryu ignored the woman's increasing anger, "After all, you did say you saw me fight just now. You must have seen me do things you could hope to never achieve. I mean really, could you kill over three-dozen murlocs with one attack. I think not."

The anger in the voice finally reached its peak and lashed out, "You condescending, arrogant human! I am going to kill you slowly and painfully!"

"_There you are!"_ Pivoting around to the source of the voice, Uryu instantly formed his bow and let loose an arrow, "Got you now!"

The arrow left his bow almost faster than the eye could see. It sped through that air for several dozen meters before impacting into one of the tall, rotting trees littering the landscape. Squinting his eyes, Uryu could barely see a pale-skinned figure jump out of the tree just as his arrow made contact and vaporized the area around impact. Cursing softly as he realized the person was trying to flee, he quickly scaled the hills ringing the beach but failed to find any sign of the woman.

"_Damn it, she got away. I need to move before she gets backup. Where I should head is the real question."_

Looking around, Uryu noticed that perched on a hillside to his left was a large building that seemed to be in better condition that anything else around here.

"_I believe that is where I will be heading to next but the odds of that woman being based there are quite high. I will need to be cautious as I make my ascent. This world, it seems, is full of dangers."_

Unknown to Uryu, a couple hundred yards away a dark ranger sat behind a large rock clutching her bleeding shoulder. In excruciating pain, she quickly made sure the human did not know where she was, _"Damn that human! How the hell did he have the skill to locate me, one of the dark rangers, simply by sound? It's surreal! And that attack…it was pure mana, but that's impossible! I'm in too much pain to make it back to the Undercity now though." _

Standing up, the dark ranger ran as fast as she could to the one Forsaken that she could trust to get her message back to the Undercity without delay.

* * *

...

* * *

_Somewhere in the Undercity_

Built under the decaying ruins of the capital of Lordaeron, the Undercity was the seat of power for the faction of undead known as the Forsaken. Paranoid of the rest of the world as well as their allies in the Horde, the Forsaken sequester themselves in the ever-expanding tunnels and sewers that they call home as they increase their knowledge of forbidden and dangerous magical arts and fields.

Walking down stairs leading from the craftsmen tier of the Undercity, two warlocks appeared to be in a deep discussion.

"As I have already pointed out to you as well proven several times, the magical fluctuations coming from the south could only be explained by a density over 5,500."

His companion snorted at his conclusion before responding, "Your findings are absurd and I refuse to believe them. You know as well as I do that such a density would imply an adverse effect on the environment in the form of natural disasters and unnatural weather as soon as it forms. The fact that we are still standing here discussing your erroneous theorem implies that you are wrong Bartholomew."

The now named Bartholomew barked out a condescending laugh, "If you are so apt on saying that my assumption on the disturbance to the south is wrong, what do you suppose can account for such a rapid rise and fall of mana within such a short amount of time."

"I may not have a definite answer," the second warlock admitted. "But I cannot grasp the concept of so much mana in such concentrations. It defies the very theory of magical density limitations."

That may be true, but just because the theory says it cannot exist does not mean it doesn't."

His companion frowned and was about to respond when a familiar voice came echoing through the tunnels, "I should have realized you would have started this discussion without me."

"Ah Lilith, there you are. We were beginning to fear you might have forgotten about us."

"I am not the one who tends to forget things Reynard," Lilith scoffed as she approached the duo. "In any case, back to the subject at hand. Do you remember the pulse of mana that came from the north a couple of hours ago?"

"I have not forgotten about it Lilith." Reynard retorted. A moment passed before something seemed to click in his mind. Slowly turning to face Lilith, he asked, "Just when did you get back? I was certain that your expedition to investigate the northern magical anomaly set out an hour ago and yet you are back here already? Either the northern coast is just outside the city or you never left."

Lilith rubbed the back of her neck with her hand and let out a small laugh; "There was a small complication during our investigation that required me to come back."

Reynard stopped walking so quickly that Bartholomew, who was walking behind him, almost ran into him "What sort of complication are we talking about? You are not one to take unnecessary risks or fail without good reason."

Lilith rolled her glowing eyes at Reynard, "The holy light sort of complication Reynard."

"Ah, I take it those zealots to the north arrived before you did? That is peculiar. While I expected them to arrive eventually, I did not expect them to so soon. I may have to rethink their competency."

Lilith glared at Reynard before turning to face Bartholomew, "It wasn't the Scarlet Crusade. While they had a noticeable presence in the area of the anomaly, they seem utterly unaware of the mana lingering about. If they had knowledge of it, I would not have returned unscathed and perfect looking as usual."

Tiring of Lilith's walk around, Bartholomew cleared his throat to get their attention, "Yes, well, that is all fine and dandy but can we move on to the results of your investigation. What can you tell us about the mana residue still at the scene? What was the type and density?"

Lilith stared unblinking at the two fellow warlocks for a moment before motioning with a bony finger to a quieter tunnel. Walking through the mostly empty sewer, she began to explain what she found.

"As you know, I set out with a group of mages north to take readings of the nearest disturbance. What we found there was…difficult to measure to say the least."

Seeing her two companions puzzled looks, Lilith let the tip of her finger with mana and started to draw in the air, "In order to explain the difficulty I need to ask that you remember the schools of mana and how one cannot focus on more than one without reducing his overall effectiveness in both."

"Something that you are probably not aware of," she continued saying, gaining the rapt attention of Reynard and Bartholomew, "Is that magic in its purest form can be shaped and molded without necessarily forming spells like fireballs or ice blasts or immolations."

Seeing where she was trying to go, Bartholomew cut her off with a flick of his hand, "Yes, yes, I studied alongside Jaina Proudmoore in Dalaran before the war Lilith. I am aware of the Theory of Manadynamics as much as you are. It's called a theory because of the large amounts of control needed to make magic flow into the desired shapes. Even when Kel'Thuzad was reborn as a lich he couldn't do much more than form a ball of flowing mana without it devolving into one of his well-known spells

Lilith huffed and rummaged around in a pouch before pulling out a crumpled document and handing it to Bartholomew.

"You don't have to take my word for it, just read over this report from an injured dark ranger who reported to me while I was still in the north."

As Bartholomew read over the report, Reynard noticed his skeletal hands start to shake. It was but a moment before Bartholomew turned to look back at Lilith.

"Are…are you sure this is correct? Could she have simply misinterpreted what she saw?"

"What are you so nervous about?" Reynard asked, pulling the document out of his hands and reading over it. A moment later he saw exactly what had Bartholomew so upset.

"This cannot be right. There is no way someone, anyone, could manipulate the flow of mana in such a way as to make it stay in a shape _after_ leaving contact with the skin."

Lilith saw their reactions and gave her assessment, "Now you see what the complication was. We have to tell the Dark Lady about this."

"NO! We cannot!"

Bartholomew's reaction stunned both Lilith and Reynard. As a devout follower of Sylvanas, deciding not to inform her was like spitting in the face of a god.

"We cannot tell her about this yet because we have no idea what we are dealing with. Think about it. We have several large and highly dense mana concentrations appearing around the world all within a couple of hours of each other. There isn't even a pattern to their appearance…and now this. A being that could shape pure mana to whatever he wills it to be. If we don't know what we are dealing with and the Dark Lady chooses to investigate, we could be sending her to a very dangerous situation."

Reynard sighed as he realized Bartholomew was correct, "He's right for once Lilith. We will inform the Dark Lady only after we have a firm grasp on what we are dealing with. For now we will go and study the results of your expedition in case we missed anything vital."

As the three warlocks walked away, they failed to notice a female figure in camouflage crouching on top a rafter. Processing what she just heard, a smirk appeared on her pale blue lips before she vanished into the shadows.

* * *

...

* * *

_Royal Quarters, Undercity_

Sylvanas, the Banshee Queen of the Forsaken, had a bemused expression on her face as she beheld the dark ranger kneeling in front of her throne. Immediately after overhearing the trio of warlocks, the ranger headed for her queen.

"Was that everything that they talked about? They did not mention anything before Lilith met up with them?"

The dark ranger picked up her head and looked Sylvanas in the eyes, "No my queen. The only information of significance came about with Lilith's return. Everything said before was merely their theories and speculations."

"What about the document she handed to her colleague? Did you managed to take it from them?"

The dark ranger shook her head, "I was unable to. After letting her colleagues read it, Lilith took the document and sealed it within a space only available through the use of her specific mana. I could not get it even if I tried."

Sylvanas seemed to think for a moment before resting her cheek on her right fist, "Once again Lilith has both impressed and annoyed me. As for Bartholomew's eagerness to defy me, I cannot help but see where he is coming from so I will let it slide…for now. As for you..." at this the dark ranger seemed to straighten up, "…I want you to head to Lilith's study and do your best to convince her that the document should be handed over. If she refuses, I will deal with her insolence."

Rising from her throne, Sylvanas turned and looked off to the side deep in thought before facing the dark ranger again.

"I want someone to keep a close eye on our three warlocks. I want regular updates on anything they discover. Dismissed!"

Bowing and disappearing into the shadows, the dark ranger left Sylvanas apparently alone in her throne room. She stood there silently for a moment before she heard a deep gravelly voice echo from the side, **"You are playing a dangerous game with an opponent you do not truly understand Sylvanas."**

Sylvanas turned her head slightly at the sound of the voice "I did not take you for a coward Varimathras. Perhaps I should have killed you while you were begging for your life."

The dreadlord chuckled as he fully stepped out into the dim lighting of the Royal Quarters, the shadows peeling away from his skin like water, **"Do not confuse my hesitation for confrontation with cowardice. I am simply allowing you to partake in some advice. While I would not normally care if it did, it would be wise to heed it."**

While Varimathras was talking, Sylvanas paced around her throne room trying to figure out the angle the dreadlord was going for. He was one to never say anything for free and for him to offer advice was setting off alarms inside her mind.

"Do you take me for a fool Varimathras?" she responded with anger, "I have no need for your head games."

Varimathras pointed one of his clawed fingers at Sylvanas and growled, **"You have no idea what you might be dealing with Sylvanas. Even I am at a loss as to what is going on."**

As he walked towards her, Sylvanas noticed that his features seemed a little more…ragged than usual.

"**As for the question I know you are going to ask, I just returned from speaking to some of my old…acquaintances."**

Sylvanas chuckled and faced the dreadlord, "And here I thought you were spending the day planning my eventual downfall and death."

"**I may no longer be a part of the Burning Legion but I still have some contacts that owe me a lot. I spent the last couple of hours _collecting_ from most of them."**

She crossed her arms in front of her body as she tried to not imagine what the dreadlord meant by _collecting_. Even to her, his standards of torture were…brutal. Prisoners, both alive and undead, opted to kill themselves rather than face his torture.

"While your definition of collecting on debts sends shivers down my shine, there are more important matters at the moment. What did you manage to find out from your acquaintances before you finished collecting?"

"**Nothing, I found _absolutely _nothing. Several millennia of my own existence along with demons tens of thousands of years old could not find any logical reason for the events that have occurred. While your previously mortal body makes you immune to the secondary effects of the pulses, I was not."**

At the mention of a secondary effect, Sylvanas cursed under her breath, "What secondary effects?"

The dreadlord did not answer her question as he continued talking, **"You may not have felt it, but I felt fear when several of the pulses reached us."**

Sylvanas arched an eyebrow at this declaration, "Fear you say? What could be so terrifying about the pulses that it affected you but not me? If it were just sheer magical power, I would have sensed it as well. Does it have to do with the composition of the mana itself?"

"**You are correct in that regard. My kin have an innate ability to sense the magical orientation of our opponents in order to find the best way to attack them. What better way is there to attack an opponent than with the element opposite to his orientation? Using this ability, I was able to sense several types but there were a few that simply stood out above the others."**

"Stood out?"

"**Yes, two of the pulses had presences that felt like they were going to smother my very existence. While those were highly concerning, it was the source to the north of the city that has me the most concerned."**

Sylvanas smirked at this. For once, she had more information than the dreadlord on a topic that he seemed to be the expert on, "Yes, about that source. I just got word from one of my dark rangers about what some warlocks discovered. Apparently whatever arrived to the north can freely mold and shape pure mana to whatever they desire."

Instead of getting angry, Varimathras started laughing, causing Sylvanas to glare due to his disrespect, **"Your warlocks have only scratched the surface of what is going on. Whatever came from the north may be able to shape mana freely, but what I felt coming from it was the strongest feeling of holy I have every felt."**

"Holy? You aren't buying into the Holy Light crap the humans believe in?"

"**What the mortals worship is but a religious description of what they cannot understand. Holy is the physical representation of everything a demon is not. Simply touching an essence of holy will result in rapid disintegration of the area surrounding the contact. If a demon were to die from injuries sustained during a holy attack, they would be wiped out from existence." **

"Interesting," was all Sylvanas said as she stepped down off the podium her throne was on and headed towards the doors leading away from her chambers.

"**What do you plan to do?"**

"I do not know yet," she replied with the barest hint of a smirk on her face, "But I will think of something."

"_I may seem confident in front of Varimathras but truth be told, what he said is worrisome. While I normally never trust anything he says without a second and third collaborating source of information, him simply being nervous and guarded gives me enough of a reason to trust what he said. It would be dangerous for someone like myself to wade into a battle against such a being without the proper precautions."_

Snapping her fingers, Sylvanas had to wait but a moment before three dark rangers were kneeling in front of her.

"I want you three to go out and observe whatever landed to the north. You are not to make contact unless attacked. If that happens, one of you is to report back post haste while the others are to stall it. Now go!"

"_Now I wait for my prey to take the bait…"_

* * *

_..._

* * *

Original Attacks Introduced

1. Jagd Pfeil – Homing Arrow

_Well, that was the 5th chapter. I am pleased that while I was able to show Uryu's introduction to the world of warcraft, I was able to tie in other elements of the story without taking away from the actual chapter_

_**Note 1:** All of Uryu's attacks will have a German theme_

_As always, reviews are appreciated._

~Bahamut_Reshiki


	6. Arrival Arc: Neliel

I do not own the characters, ideas, and/or places from either Bleach or World of Warcraft and their respective universes. Tite Kubo and Blizzard® own them respectively. Any original characters in the story belong to me. Any comparisons to other fan fiction or series characters are entirely coincidental and not intentional.

Hello - Normal Speech

_Hello_ - Thoughts

**Hello** - Demons / Titans/ Inner Hollow/ Dragons / Arrancar Released Form

**_Hello_** – Thoughts of Demons / Titans/ Inner Hollow/ Dragons / Arrancar Released Form

**Notice 1: **I have taken liberties regarding the backgrounds of several characters.

**Notice 2:**Neliel's behavior in this story is slightly different then it is in the manga.

**_Here is the chapter a lot of you have been waiting for: the arrival of Neliel to Azeroth. I personally had a lot of fun writing this chapter. On another note, I already have the entire ORIGINAL arc after the arrival arc planned out. It will diverge greatly from the warcraft universe canon and have an original villain not in the warcraft universe. I feel that it has the potential to be an epic story arc. So enjoy this chapter and review!_**

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...

* * *

**Chapter 6: The Arrival Arc: Neliel**

_The Eastern Plaguelands_

The Eastern Plaguelands were not known for its travelers but for the dangers located within. When the Plague of Undeath hit Lordaeron during the Third War the far eastern section of the kingdom was hit the hardest with most of the native species dying and then reanimating into murderous and decaying creatures. Due to this, anyone foolish enough to walk through the area was either very strong, very stupid, or insane.

During one typically deadly quiet afternoon, a loud _thump_ was heard that was quickly followed by a large crash as something hit the forest with great speed.

Neliel remained crouching in the crater she made in the ground with her eyes closed. After a moment she stood up and dusted herself off and fixed her outfit.

"Well, that was not the most graceful landing I've had but it seems I'm fine."

As she stretched her body and got rid of all the kinks, she noticed that she was in the middle of a half-dead forest under a disturbingly orange and red sky.

_"Something hit this land hard._"

As Neliel made her way through the forest in order to find a way out, she heard something growling behind her. Waiting a second for whatever it was to come closer, she quickly drew her zanpakuto and stabbed the creature through the mouth and into a tree without even looking around.

Turning around, she narrowed her eyes at what she stabbed, "What are you supposed to be?"

What Neliel saw disturbed her greatly. Still struggling against the tree with her zanpakuto sticking out of its mouth was a half-decayed corpse with grey, mottled skin and evil yellow eyes. Even as she stared at it, it was trying to reach out with its claw-like hands to attack her.

"I can see it in your eyes, you are trapped within your own body. Forced to commit acts you do not want to do." Neliel grabbed her zanpakuto and pulled it out of the ghoul, causing it to briefly fall to the ground before it immediately got up again. Before it could have a chance to attack, Neliel swung out with her zanpakuto and beheaded the undead monster, finally putting the soul inside to rest.

Sheathing her sword, she crossed her hands in front of her face and extended her index fingers, _"Pesquisa!"_

Unlike what most other arrancar used the ability for, pesquisa could be used besides gauging the strength of your opponent. If the arrancar was sufficiently powerful enough, they could sense any amount of spiritual pressure for many miles around themselves.

_"Strange,"_ she thought as she doubled her concentration, _"All I am receiving is static as soon as my spiritual energy leaves my body in the pulse. The only spiritual pressure that I am able to sense despite the scrambling is a large concentration of slightly spiritually aware people to the west."_

Making up her mind, Neliel started walking to the west, all the while careful of any more ambushes by creatures like the first one.

It was not long after setting out Neliel had her first experience dealing with the still living residents of Azeroth as her sharp ears picked up the sounds of objects whistling through the air. She stopped in mid-stride and watched as several arrows embedded themselves into the tree in front of her. Curiously raising an eyebrow, she looked around and found herself surrounded by a group of at least a dozen red and white armor people, all of which were wielding weapons and looked to be out for blood.

Hoping they were somewhat diplomatic, Neliel tried her luck, "Something I can help you people with?"

A few short derisive laughs echoed through the forest before several men started to walk towards Neliel. Before any of them could actually attack her, Neliel heard a sharp voice yell out, "Stop!"

Neliel inclined her head so that she could see who spoke up and stopped the people from making a big mistake. The speaker, a middle-aged man with hair just starting to turn gray around the temples, was dressed in armor of better quality than the rest of the people. One of the men who had attempted to attack Neliel swung the mace he was holding through the air a couple of times in anger before turned to his apparent leader.

"Sir Marcus, why are you halting us from our sacred mission? It is the duty of the Scarlet Crusade to cleanse these lands of all abominations before they have a chance to spread the plague. Are you working against us?"

Marcus frowned at the veiled insult and held up a fist to stop the man from speaking, "It is only temporary I assure you." Marcus motioned to Neliel as he continued to make his point, "This woman is walking through the Plaguelands without worry or fear and what is more, looks perfectly fine. She may have information that could be useful."

Once he was finished talking Marcus pointed to two crusaders, one a woman brandished a broadsword and shield and the other a large muscular warrior gripping a greatsword nearly the length of his body, "I want you two to grab her arms. We need her back at our encampment before the sun sets so we can interrogate her."

Before her potential jailers could start towards her Neliel point a finger at Marcus, who seemed to be much more calm and collected than the rest of the crusaders, "There must be something that I have done in order to account for such barbaric treatment. You are their leader, surely you are civilized enough to explain what I have done?"

Marcus folded his arms behind his back and replied as if he had been asked that same question many times, "While I would prefer not to talk to you any longer, given your politeness I will indulge in this last request. You are charged with being contaminated by the Plague of Undeath. While the penalty is usually death I feel you have information that will be useful to our cause. If you want a quick death it would be in your best interests to tell us everything you know. If you do not fully cooperate, we will be forced to use…_creative_…measures."

As the two crusaders Marcus pointed out before approached her from both sides, Neliel focused herself. Unlike what most people thought, she was not a naturally childish and ditzy person. As an arrancar, she was forced to constantly fight and kill. First it was for survival against hollows and then it was to fight for Aizen against the shinigami. It was because of wanting a peaceful life that she acted the way she did. But seeing no alternative to the situation at hand, she sighed and got into a basic hand-to-hand combat stance.

"I can see that you are not going to simply let be pass unscathed. While I do not like violence, I will fight you if you persist. However, I will be lenient and hold back and just give you a simple beating."

Marcus frowned at Neliel's dismissal of his men, "What are you two waiting for? Go up and grab her!"

The crusader with the greatsword was the first to move. Stabbing the blade into the ground, he ran at Neliel with speed unbefitting a man his size and reached out to grab her arm. Just as his fingers were about to brush her white sleeve, Neliel vanished into thin air. Stumbling forward, the man spun around in confusion at what just happened. Looking at his fellow crusaders, he saw that no one else knew where Neliel went.

"I'm sorry, are you looking for me?"

At the sound of Neliel's amused voice, the crusaders stopped searching for her and looked up with wide-eyed surprise. Sitting on a branch about 30 feet off the ground, Neliel has a smirk on her face as she swung her legs back and forth through the air. Seeing her up there and carefree had some of the crusaders nervous. How could they possibly fight an enemy able to teleport without saying a phrase or charging their mana?

"How did she do that?"

"What is she?"

"What kind of magic does she possess?"

Ignoring all the questions being asked, the warrior turned and retrieved his greatsword buried in the ground. Pulling it out, he waved it at Neliel menacingly, "Stupid wench! Get down here this instant!"

Before responding, Neliel raised a finger to her lips while still swinging her legs, "What will happen if I do?"

"If you don't come down here right now, I will make sure that your death will be as painful as possible!"

"Then I guess I'm not going to come down."

Tired of the argument and Neliel's behavior, Marcus groaned and turned to the marksman that accompanied his troops, "This is pointless. Shoot her down now!"

The hunter nodded at the command and quickly fired an arrow at Neliel. Just as the arrow was about to hit her forehead, Neliel pushed herself off the branch and swan-dived to the ground. Instead of crashing as the crusaders thought she would, she landed on her right hand and pushed off it into a flip before landing on her feet with her arms folded over her chest.

At Neliel's display of martial prowess, Marcus glanced around and noticed several of his fellow crusaders starting to get worried about fighting Neliel. Drawing his own sword, he raised it and yelled, "Change of plans men! She is a demon and therefore it is our duty to slay her. Attack her at once!"

Neliel frowned at the comment but did not move as the warrior sprinted at her and raised the greatsword over his head. As he swung it down, she calmly raised a hand and _caught_ the blade in her fingers. The warrior stood there, his arms shaking as his weapon was held in Neliel's hand like it was nothing, Fury rising, he screamed in rage and pushed down with all his might against Neliel's gloved hand but as he attempted to cut her, his greatsword started to slip through her fingers, causing the crusaders surrounding the pair to cringe at the sound of metal scrapping against metal.

Looking between the blade in her hand and the furious look on the warrior's face, Neliel said, "If you are going to attack me with the intent to harm me, you are going to have to try just a tad bit harder than that." With that, Neliel squeezed her fingers together and shattered the well-crafted blade into thousands of pieces.

Dropping the shattered remains of his weapon in shock, the warrior took a few steps backwards as his mind tried to grasp what just happened. Shock quickly turned to anger and rage as the warrior ran at Neliel, arms outstretched, with the intent to crush her throat. During this time Neliel wasn't standing around waiting to be attacked. Easily leaning backwards and avoiding the warrior, Neliel grabbed the arm of one of the other crusaders that tried attacking her and with minimal effort, swung him around into the warrior, causing both of them to fly through the air several feet before skidding along the ground.

As Neliel dodged and danced around his fellow crusaders with ease, Marcus started getting angry. Turning to a fellow paladin, who was just standing around, he scoffed and said, "What are you doing standing around? It is obvious that physical attacks are useless if we cannot touch her. Use the powers granted to you by the Light and smite her!"

At his orders several paladins increased the distance between themselves and Neliel as they prepared to hit her with exorcisms while others muttered spells under their breaths that imbued their fellow crusaders' weapons with holy properties. Before the exorcisms could hit her Neliel sighed and vanished from her location once again.

Once she disappeared, the crusaders frantically started looking around for places she could be hiding. While they may not have known how she was doing it, they knew that she would have to reappear somewhere nearby. As the crusaders looked around the forest and in the trees for Neliel, they did not expect her to suddenly reappear in front of several warriors and paladins.

When the one paladin attacked her with his blade as soon as she appeared, Neliel had to give him credit since she thought he wouldn't have been able to react that fast. While he did attack her as soon as he saw her it was still too slow to do anything to worry Neliel, who blocked the blade with her wrist before rotating her hand around to crush the blade. While Neliel was distracted with the first paladin another attempted to smash her shield into her head in order to disorient her. Without missing a beat, Neliel dodged underneath the shield and raised a single finger and flicked it against the hard steel.

The result was almost instantaneous. As soon as Neliel's finger impacted the shield, the metal crumpled underneath it like paper and threw back the paladin holding it several feet. As the crusaders turned to follow their comrade's flight, Neliel vanished once again and reappeared back where she started.

"I hope this demonstration of my abilities has dissuaded you from any further attempts to attack me," she said as she turned to walk away.

"Where the hell do you think you're going?" the inquisitor in the group yelled as he extended both arms and then clapped his hands together.

Once his hands clapped together, ethereal spikes connected by golden chains surrounded Neliel, arresting her movement. The inquisitor gasped for breath as sweat dripped off his face, "I managed to trap her. It took every bit of mana I had but I manage to do-"

His gloating was cut off as Neliel looked around her prison and simply continued walking away.

"While your attempt to trap me was innovative, you lack the spiritual energy needed to keep someone of my strength trapped for even a second." Turning her head to the side as she walked away, Neliel continued speaking, "I have put up with your attempts to attack me, but enough is enough. If you continue to hold delusions that you can harm me, I will be forced to respond aggressively, as much as I would hate to."

Just to impress upon the crusaders her seriousness, Neliel released a minuscule amount of her spiritual pressure on the crusaders. As soon as she did so, the crusaders stumbled and dropped to their hands and knees, fear evident in their eyes. Each of them couldn't explain it, but they all felt as if the woman in front of them was trying to erase them from existence.

But just as quickly as the pressure arrived it vanished and with it Neliel.

The crusaders remained on the ground gathering their bearings for several minutes. Marcus was one of the first to stand up, stumbling as he walked over to a paladin. Grabbing her shirt, he yanked her up off the ground, "Get a grip! You need to report back to Lady Abbendis at Tyr's Hand and inform her about the demon heading in her direction."

The paladin nodded her head before running off to her horse at their camp in the woods nearby. Once she was gone, Marcus stood on the road, wringing his hands nervously. For the first time in as long as he could remember, he had encountered a foe that he could not beat with any type of force and what was worse, it was almost as if she was _bored_ fighting them. As his fellow crusaders picked themselves up, Marcus could not help but question if this woman would bring destruction or salvation to those around her.

* * *

...

* * *

_Several Hours Later in Tyr's Hand_

A group of crimson-clad people walked through the main abbey of Tyr's Hand towards a room in the rear. As they approached the door, two crusaders hurried forward and opened the doors, allowed the three people to enter the room. Striding into the room, they were met by a woman with auburn-colored hair leaning against the large table in the middle of the room.

The woman pushed herself off the table and bowed her head slightly at the three figures, "Ladies and gentlemen. I'm glad you were able to get here on such short notice. I know that this meeting has potentially destroyed and delayed several of our plans to eradicate the undead from our homeland."

A dark-haired woman in gold and black armor was the first to respond as she shoved her way to the woman, "Abbendis, I do not know what this is about but do you realize what you have done by dragging us away from Light's Hope? Months of spying on what those weaklings in the Argent Dawn were planning _gone_ just like that. Because of you, we might never get that close to figuring out their goals again!"

"Settle down Marjhan," Abbendis responded angrily, "Are you questioning my dedication to the cause? There is no one here more fervent in reclaiming all of Lordaeron than myself. So believe me when I say there is an important reason for why I summoned all of you here today."

"It better be damn important Abbendis," the deep voice of Mataus the warlock called out, "But I will stick around to hear what you have to say. It is true that you are among the most passionate in the Scarlet Crusade. Therefore I will listen to what you say and decide on what to do afterwards."

High General of the Scarlet Crusade Brigitte Abbendis sighed in relief. Motioning with a hand, one of the guards around the perimeter of the room rushed forward and gently placed an object wrapped in cloth into her hands.

Scarlet Commander Marjhan raised an eyebrow in curiosity as Abbendis put the object on the table and started to unwrap it, "What is that supposed to be? Is it some kind of relic we could use against the Scourge?"

"Unfortunately it is nothing like that," Abbendis replied as she revealed a badly dented Scarlet Crusade shield to her compatriots.

Mataus growled when he saw what he was dragged to Tyr's Hand for, "Are you enjoying this joke Abbendis? I was brought here on such short notice that I had to cancel plans that were weeks and months in the making only so you could show us a damaged piece of equipment? I am disappointed Abbendis, your father would never tolerate such insolence."

"Quiet!" Abbendis yelled, silencing the dissent around her. Pointing to the shield, she angrily continued, "The shield itself is not important! What is important is what _happened_ to it! What if I told you that the damage you see was caused by a woman with only a single flick of her finger?"

"I would say that the plague had finally gotten to you," Rohan said, speaking up for the first time since arriving at Tyr's Hand.

Abbendis nervously continued talking to avoid the current conversation, "Quite frankly I don't care what you believe. But I will have you know that several paladins claimed without changing their stories that they encountered a woman in the forest west of here who then proceeded to manhandle them as if they were mere infants while demonstrating unparalleled strength, speed, and abilities."

"Unparalleled?" scoffed Mataus, "Obviously the training of the newest crusaders needs some work. Who's fault is that Abbendis?"

Abbendis continued talking and ignored the comment from Mataus, "She was seen stopping blades imbued with the Light that guides us with her bare hands before proceeding to easily destroy them. She could disappear and reappear several dozen meters away in the blink of an eye. What was the most disturbing news was that one of our inquisitors attempted arrest her movements with a holy shackle only for her to easily destroy the bindings even when he applied all his mana to the spell."

The scarlet leaders stood around and looked down at the shield without a sound for a moment.

"So what does this monster of a _woman_ actually look like?" Marjhan asked as she picked up the shield and turned it over examining it.

Abbendis looked at the report that was delivered along with the shield, "From what the crusaders who fought her say, the woman has above average height, is wearing a form-fitting white outfit that does not seem to be made of armor, has long green hair-"

"Wait a second, her hair is actually _green_?" Mataus asked puzzled.

"Yes Mataus, her hair is green," Abbendis scoffed, "I, for one, do not believe her hair was such an odd color. It was most likely a magical transformation to hide her true identity that the crusaders failed to discover. What was rather interesting was this woman has what appears to be the skull of some sort of creature resembling a ram or a goat with curved horns on top of head."

"So, let me understand something Abbendis," Rohan said, pushing off the wall and approaching the rest of the group, "We have a woman who is most like undead not doing a good job of concealing herself. That's what you're thinking, right?"

When he received a nod in response, Rohan laughed morbidly before composing himself, "This could be the worst thing that has happened to us."

"What are you talking about?" Marjhan questioned as she pounded her fist onto the table, "The undead beast obviously has no intelligence if it wasn't able to even hide properly! We can ambush and destroy her before she can accomplish whatever goal her master has planned!"

"I did not get where I am by being hasty Scarlet Commander so I would advise you listen to what I have to say," Rohan said as he pointed on the map where Neliel was fought. "What we have is an undead that is immune to physical and holy damage, can attack before you see her coming, and can break our very best weapons without trying and worst of all, she is heading in this direction. She has no _need_ for discretion when nothing we have can possibly stop her."

As all the scarlet leaders faces grew long at what Rohan said, Marjhan spoke quieter than anyone remembered, "There must be something that can be done before she arrives. We cannot allow all we accomplished here to be destroyed by one nearly invincible undead."

Abbendis's eyes lit up as an idea formed in her head. "There is, potentially, one thing that could work. But it requires we abandon all ideas of attacking her."

Mataus glared at Abbendis while wringing his hands together, "What do you propose we do then? Make peace with it? Roll over and let it use us like puppets? I'd rather kill myself that be subject to that!"

Abbendis didn't respond as she quickly read over the report before stopping on a particular section, "My plan to save the scarlet crusade hinges on what she said during the confrontation with her. She was heard claiming to not want to fight and urged the crusaders to let her leave in peace."

"I see what you're saying," Rohan spoke up, "While she may be a new type of undead, the Lich King obviously does not have full control over her thoughts and actions. If we can come up with a plan to capitalize on this weakness, we might have a spot at stopping her."

Handing the report to Mataus, who immediately started reading it, Abbendis nodded reluctantly, "Rohan is right. Whatever this undead is, it appears to detest violence and did not kill any of the crusaders that attacked her. We could use that knowledge to formulate a plan against her and, although I'm loathe to say it, we cannot simply attack her without dying in the process."

"Glad you're willing to think outside the box Abbendis," Rohan said as he read the report over Mataus's shoulder. "I have a potential idea on how to do this but I want each of you to swear to hold your judgments until I am finished. Am I clear?"

"Rohan," Abbendis started saying, "We are in the middle of a possible annihilation of everything we have worked for. Nothing you can say can possibly be any worse that what this woman will do when she gets here."

"Very well, I propose we have someone meet her and attempt to play on her weakness." Sensing the bloodlust in the room aimed at him, Rohan silently moved his hands over the daggers hidden on his back, "Before you make any moves you might regret, I want each of you to think about this. She is an undead that did not kill crusaders when they usually rip them apart while also attempting to avoid conflict, fleeing only after the crusaders could no longer attack her. It is most likely that she is fighting whatever the Lich King did to her with every fiber of her soul. If we could get someone close enough to her, we could possibly manage to have her fight his hold long enough so we could slay her."

"So a 'keep your friends close but your enemies closer' type of plan Rohan?" Marjhan quipped.

"Exactly. While not exactly our policy, it is a logical plan."

"I take it you have a _volunteer_ for such a daring plan?" Mataus asked, the demonic energy encircling his hands dissipating.

"Of course, I'm not one to give out a half-assed plan in such dire times." With that said, he raised an arm and pointed to Abbendis, "You will have to be the one to do such a task."

Abbendis narrowed her eyes and scoffed, "I don't know what you're planning Rohan, but I am not amused."

Rohan laughed at the veiled threat, "Well, I cannot do such a task and Mataus does not have the patience for a long-term mission such as this. Finally Marjhan, no offense, you cannot act to save your life. Abbendis, you are one of the most charismatic leaders of the Scarlet Crusade. Under your leadership we have gathered hundreds of new recruits and paladins in order to push back the undead from Lordaeron. It will be easiest for you to play a paladin not associated with us as long as needed to kill her."

Abbendis grit her teeth before sighing in defeat, "At any other time I would have you tortured and killed for saying anything remotely like that Rohan, but as we have nothing that can possibly stand up to this woman, I suppose we have no choice but to go along with your plan. I assume I won't be wearing my usual armor?"

"Not for this, we need to have you distanced away from the Scarlet Crusade as it is a likely possibility her sole purpose is to attack Tyr's Hand. Since it appears she is fighting whatever she was told to do, try to also convince her to avoid Tyr's Hand completely and to head north. We will attempt to arrange a meeting with you once we have figured out a way to hurt her."

"Fine, I'll do it only to destroy a powerful undead before she has a chance to complete any heinous acts. But once this is over, you and I are going to have a long _talk_ about your points of view."

"I'm looking forward to such a conversation as we speak," Rohan said, "Now follow me, I caught a spy several weeks ago that I don't think will mind us borrowing her armor…"

* * *

..

* * *

_Two Hours Later_

A large amount of time has passed for Neliel since her confrontation with the Scarlet Crusade. While she easily fended them off without killing any of them, she found that she had a bigger problem – being lost. So when she stepped up a hill and found herself on the edge of a cobblestone road that stretched into the distance, she was pleased.

"Finally!" she shouted, stretching her back, "I thought I was never going to get out of that forest! Now it will be easy to follow that spiritual pressure."

As she headed west, Neliel's eyes darted to the right as a figure raised a hand and approached her.

"Greetings."

Neliel remained silent as the woman walking towards her. Due to her first encounter with humans in this world leading to a confrontation, she was wary of any further contact but she could tell that something about this woman was different. Instead of deep crimson and white armor, she wore blue-gray and white armor that exposed her midriff and had spiked shoulder guards. Putting her shield onto her back and sheathing her broadsword, the woman extended a hand to Neliel. After several seconds of Neliel not responding, the woman drew back her hand.

"I see you are not the most social person?"

"It is not that," Neliel replied, "It's just everyone I have met here has tried to attack me. So being prudent is wise."

The woman raised a gray gauntlet to her chin and looked to be deep in thought, "I'm guessing you encountered the local regiment of the Scarlet Crusade."

"Scarlet Crusade? I do recall a man mentioning that phrase."

The woman scoffed at the name, "They are a group of people whose purpose is to free Lordaeron from the grip of the undead Scourge. A noble goal, but they are nasty people and it would be better for us to avoid them."

Nodding in appreciation, Neliel continued walking past the woman, "I thank you for the advice but I must move on."

The woman looked nervous when she saw Neliel continue walking and moved to try and stop her, "That way leads to Tyr's Hand, the capital of the Scarlet Crusade in the Eastern Plaguelands. Instead of going there to our certain deaths, we should instead head north towards the Ghostlands. The trolls have been increasing their activity and a call has gone out for volunteers to help repel them before they break through."

_"Hmm. I could easily deal with anything the people at this…Tyr's Hand can throw at me based on my previous encounter but I would rather avoid any confrontation. And besides…"_ she trailed off, noticing the woman was watching her intently _"…my companion could easily get killed in the crossfire."_

"I appreciate your assistance in avoiding a most likely violent encounter with the Scarlet Crusade, but if you are going to be travelling with me I would prefer to know who you are. I am Neliel Tu Odelschwanck but Neliel is fine."

The woman raised an eyebrow at the name, "That is…an interesting name. I don't believe I've heard of such a name before."

"I'm from somewhere far away."

"Since you told me your name, it is only polite to tell you mine. I am Brigitte Abbendis at your service." she replied.

* * *

...

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**Pesquisa (Probe Circuit): **An arrancar's ability to sense the spiritual pressure of their opponent

**Note 1: Brigitte Abbendis's armor after meeting Neliel is the Paladin Tier 3 without the helm**

**Note 2: Initially Abbendis was a lot more friendly and outgoing when she met Neliel but after reading the comic and other sources, I realized that would make her very out of character and so I rewrote the last two sections of this chapter.**

_Well, Chapter 6 is now posted and I must say that my chapters are getting longer and longer. I may have to go back to some of my earlier chapters and expand them out to account for this._

_As always, reviews are appreciated._

~Bahamut_Reshiki


	7. Arrival Arc: Chad

I do not own the characters, ideas, and/or places from either Bleach or World of Warcraft and their respective universes. Tite Kubo and Blizzard® own them respectively. Any original characters in the story belong to me. Any comparisons to other fan fiction or series characters are entirely coincidental and not intentional.

Hello - Normal Speech

_Hello_ - Thoughts

**Hello** - Demons / Titans/ Inner Hollow/ Dragons / Arrancar Released Form

_**Hello**_ – Thoughts of Demons / Titans/ Inner Hollow/ Dragons / Arrancar Released Form

**Notice 1: **I have taken liberties regarding the backgrounds of several characters.

**Notice 2: **There are several original characters in this chapter that will be very involved throughout my story.

_**Here is chapter 7, which contains hints of the next arc. I must say that having Chad land where he did was much easier to write about than for him to land in Durotar and then go to the Barrens like in my original story. It just didn't leave enough material to write about. Well anyway, here is Chapter 7 so read and enjoy it and don't forget to review!**_

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**Chapter 7: The Arrival Arc: Chad**

_Somewhere in Dun Morogh_

"Excuse me."

The drunken dwarf the voice was talking to snored loudly before trying to smack away whoever was talking, "Go away and don't come back for several hours."

Instead of hearing the sound of footsteps crunching snow as the person walked away the dwarf heard silence. Even in his drunken state he couldn't get rid of the feeling something was wrong. Opening his bloodshot eyes, the dwarf saw a large blurry shadow looming over him. Letting out a yell, he quickly got up and attempted to slam his blunderbuss into whoever was there. When his gun hit the ribs of whoever was there, it felt as if he just tried to attack a large rock.

"What the…" he exclaimed as he rubbed his bleary eyes. When he opened them again, he saw that the human was still there, "Who are you?"

The human simply looked down at him silently before slowly replying, "…Chad."

Chad and the dwarf just stood staring at each other for a moment without making a sound or a movement. It wasn't long before the dwarf realized in his drunken state what he did and started trying to apologize for it.

"Sorry about attacking you and all that. I'm still a little out of it after last night."

"It's not a problem. I hardly even noticed you hitting me."

"Hey," the dwarf angrily replied, "I apologized for hitting you. I don't need you to go on and insult me like that."

"…That wasn't an insult. I was just saying that your attack didn't cause me any pain."

"Oh, in that case, sorry…err…again."

After once again apologizing, the dwarf's weary eyes finally managed to focus on Chad and he was, for lack of a better word, suspicious of his clothing. The weather in Dun Murogh could reach temperatures of 20 below in the middle of the summer and this human was walking around in pants and a simple black long-sleeve shirt as if he was in Loch Modan or the Wetlands.

"By the stone, aren't you freezing? You should be dying from the cold not walking around as if it's a nice spring day!"

Chad looked at his hands and then at his frozen surroundings as a bitter wind kicked up, "It's that cold? I thought it was a little chilly."

"Little chilly…you must have been drinking quite a lot in order to be _feeling_ things that aren't there."

"While I could continue to talk to you about drinking," Chad interrupted, "I would like some information instead. Do you happen to know where this road leads?"

"This road?" the dwarf repeated as his turned around and narrowed his eyes in the lightly snowing landscape. "It goes to the great city of Ironforge, one of the most populated places in all of Azeroth."

"How far away is it?"

"Err, if you travel down this road a bit, you'll see the gates of Ironforge in front of you within the hour. But I still think you'll freeze your ass off before you make it that far."

Chad looked down at his clothes again and then back at the dwarf, "I've been walking for over an hour so far. I think I can last a little longer."

The dwarf looked at Chad skeptically before waving him off, "Bah! You humans are too stubborn sometimes."

"Thank you for the directions," Chad says before walking past the dwarf. "Oh, and sorry about your gun."

"My gun? What are you talking about?" the dwarf asked confused as he looks at his weapon. Instead of the straight and pristine blunderbuss that could fire a bullet 100 yards without missing the target, he now held a gun that was bent at such an angle if he tried firing it, he wouldn't doubt the bullet would hit him instead.

"What the…that's not possible. How did you manage to do that?"

"It got that way when you hit me with it earlier. Sorry," Chad apologized as he disappeared down the road.

The dwarf stood there staring at the retreating figure of Chad. After a few minutes he sighed and dropped his weapon and started walking in the same direction as Chad.

"Think I'll skip going back to Kharanos tonight, go lay down for a bit…"

* * *

...

* * *

_An hour later_

After walking without incident past the many guards outside the large stone gates leading into the side of Ironforge, Chad found himself amazed by the sheer craftsmanship and immensity of the city. While he admits he assumed dwarves would live underground if they existed back on Earth, to actually see an underground city was astonishing. Walking a little further into the city and looking around, he saw that the city seemed to curve far into the distance.

After further observations, Chad found himself feeling a little concerned when it appeared that the entire city was built inside of an active volcano with streams of magma falling from holes in the ceiling into grates on the ground. Slowly walking up to the large pit running through the street, Chad looked and saw that the entire city seemed to be built on top of a massive magma chamber.

"_This is…terrifying,"_ he thought as he took a few nervous steps back from the pit. _"However,"_ he continued while looking around at the many people walking around the city without fear, _"It seems that no one else is nervous. It must not be as dangerous as it appears…or perhaps this city has been here so long that they have forgotten that something could go wrong."_

When he looked around, Chad almost gawked at the different types of beings walking around. When he saw the dwarves outside earlier, they looked similar enough to humans that he was not overly shocked to see them. For someone who has walked through Soul Society and Hueco Mundo, the equivalent of heaven and hell, most things don't surprise him anymore. But this time it appeared he had finally walked into a place that managed to do it.

The first people he noticed were smaller than the dwarves with mixes of pink and green hair. If he didn't know any better, he would think they resembled gnome statues from back home. Apprehensively crossing the bridge over the lava, Chad almost ran into a group of purple-skinning people with glowing silver eyes due to his distraction.

"Watch it human!" one of the beings dressed in old-fashioned plate armor growled.

"Hmm…sorry about that," was Chad's lackadaisical reply.

While Chad was busy taking in the city, the group of night elves was taking a second look at Chad. Humans were one of the more common species on Azeroth and tended to mature to the same height and build once they reached adulthood. To see a human that was both larger as well as more than half a foot taller than normal was very interesting, but not interesting enough to stick around.

"Just watch where you step next time," the same night elf said when the group continued to walk past Chad.

Chad stared at them as they left, "What a strange group of people."

As the background sound of the city dimmed, Chad realized that the group of people he ran into was not the only ones that seemed to be interested in him. Looking around at the various eyes staring at him and whispering to each other, he calmly said, "…What?"

Most of the people that were looking at him turned away either in embarrassment or to continue what they were doing. However, a pair of blue-skinned beings that had horns growing from atop their heads, large tails, and hooves instead of feet was walking over to him instead. As they reached Chad, the larger one let out a mirthful laugh.

"Don't mind them," he said with an accent remarkably similar to Russian, "They have just never seen a human quite your…size before."

"Yeah, I get that a lot," he replied in the slow tone he was famous for, "No offense but what are you supposed to be exactly?"

Instead of sounding offended, the pair laughed before the female responded with a similar, but lighter, accent to the male, "No offense taken my friend. We are fairly new to this planet after all, a lot of people on Azeroth still haven't met a draenei in person."

"Draenei?" Chad repeated as he let the unfamiliar word roll of his tongue.

The female draenei shrugged at Chad, "I don't know why people get confused with the name of our species. It is spelled just as it's pronounced."

"It's not that big of a problem," Chad shrugged before reaching out with his right hand in what he hoped was a familiar gesture to these people. "If we are going to introduce ourselves, I guess I should start. I'm Sado Yasutora but everyone calls me Chad."

"Chad eh?" the male draenei asked as he reached out to shake Chad's hand, "That's quite peculiar, I don't believe I've heard of such a name before. Granted we have only been on your planet for a couple of months."

"I'm not exactly from around here."

"Ah! Where are my manners," Kolona said as she stepped forward and eagerly shook Chad's hand with both of hers, "My name is Kolona and my big friend here is Dulir. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance,"

"While I appreciate the hospitality, I am sort of in a tight spot. Do you know of anyone that can help me figure out where I am exactly?"

At the question the two draenei turned to each other and started talking it what he assumed was their native tongue. After a few moments of observing them, Chad realized it was not so much a conversation as it was an argument. Kolona, or whatever the woman called herself, kept pointing to him while angrily talking to her partner. Dulir, on the other hand, seemed to be put off by Kolona's display and seemed to get more and more annoyed as the argument continued. After about a minute or so, the pair seemed to have come to an answer.

"While I think it is a long shot," Dulir grumbled, "There is one…person in Ironforge that could potentially help you. Her name is Gamara and she can be found in the Mystic Ward down that way. It shouldn't be too hard to find her, it is very…what's the word…obvious. If you can find her, she will most certainly be the only one capable of helping you find a way home."

"Gamara," Chad repeated, "You don't seem to be particularly fond of her."

"He had an encounter with her a couple of weeks back that he won't admit was his fault entirely," Kolona interrupted with a smirk on her face.

"How was I supposed to know the exact human customs needed for a proper greeting after just arriving?"

"I don't think a hard slap on the back of a woman is the proper greeting in _any culture_ Dulir."

"Bah!" Dulir said frustrated while turning away from Kolona.

Hoping to leave before the argument devolved any further, Chad turned halfway around and raised his hand, "Thanks for the help, I'll leave you two alone to deal with your problems."

The two draenei watched Chad walk away. Once he was out of earshot, Dulir turned to Kolona, "You get a strange feeling from that human?"

"Yeah," Kolona responded with a nod of her head, "It was…nothing like I expected."

Dulir arched an eyebrow at this comment, "Expected?"

"Yes Dulir. You may be a warrior, but I am a paladin. I have trained for _years_ to sense demonic energy. When that human first entered Ironforge I assumed it was a dreadlord or some other demon trying to sneak in. When we walked up to him, I realized just how wrong I was, which concerns me."

"What do you mean you were wrong?"

"When a demon inhabits a body, no matter how much they try and conceal it, they always have a feeling of _wrongness_ about them that easily gives them away to a paladin or priest that is in tune with the Light. That human, though, had an energy signature that seemed natural. It was as if he was naturally producing demonic energy."

Dulir looked incredulously at Kolona, "I thought that was impossible. Even the warlocks we have met cannot do that. They must draw the energy from the Twisting Nether."

Kolona angrily turned to Dulir, "I know exactly what I felt!" She sighed and rubbed her hand against her forehead in order to try to alleviate the upcoming migraine, "Look, I did not manage to sense any negative feelings from that human, which implies he is not here to cause trouble. Nevertheless, we should still inform Velen the Divine about this right away. It would not be good to arrive on this world only for the Burning Legion to find us immediately afterwards."

* * *

...

* * *

_20 Minutes Later_

**Gamara's Shop of Helpful Advice**

Chad looked at the glowing sign above the door with a mixture of disgust and shock. When Dulir told him her shop would be obvious once he saw it, he assumed it would be a crowded place or somewhere popular, not a menacingly looking shop with a glowing sign over the front door with her name written on it. He never thought someone would be able to outdo Kukaku Shiba's flamboyant home design but it seems that this Gamara person might just be able to do it.

After standing at the bottom of the steps leading up to the shop for a couple of minutes, he sighed and made up his mind, "She is the only one that can help me at this point, might as well get this over with."

Climbing up the stone steps leading to the shop, Chad had to slightly duck under the roof before knocking on the door. After a minute passed without anyone opening the door, Chad turned around to climb down the stairs. Just as his foot reached the first one, the door creaked open and Chad heard heavy steps approach him. Turning around, his eyes widened slightly at the figure sauntering towards him.

The woman, if she could be called that, was wearing nothing but a bikini, but that was not what drew Chad's attention. It was the bat wings, long tail, horns, and hooves that caused him to view the woman with apprehension.

"**Well, well, well. What do we have here? Are you a trespasser or a customer? In the end it doesn't matter who you are, what does matter is that you're handsome."**

Even though the succubus was trying every way possible to fluster Chad, he was showing no signs of being bothered by her. As she slowly walked around him, his eyes followed her, "Are you Gamara?

The succubus paused in her walking briefly before going back in front of Chad and moving to face him, **"Now why would you want to see an old witch like that anyway? Wouldn't you rather spend some time with me instead?"**

"That depends. Can you help me get home?"

The succubus blinked owlishly before a sly smile made its way onto her face. Latching onto his left arm with both of her arms, she looked up and said; **"Why would you want to leave a beautiful woman like me? Stay here with me."**

Seeing that talking to the succubus was a waste of time, Chad easily peeled her off his arm and started to walk away from the shop, "Sorry about that, but if you can't help me I'm not interested in talking to you."

As he descended the first step, Chad heard a voice call out to him from inside the shop, "Wait! Don't allow that bitch to turn you away. She's been trying to ruin me for years!"

The succubus glared back inside the shop toward the source of the voice, **"You never let me have any fun so of course I'm going to get revenge against you."**

"Away with you," the voice yelled as the succubus disappeared in a cloud of black smoke. When Chad made no move to enter the shop, the voice called out impatiently, "What are you waiting for? Didn't you come here for my help?"

Entering the shop, Chad was immediately assaulted by the scent of burning incense and candles. Making his way around a book-covered table, he walked to the back of the room and brushed aside the curtain covering the entrance to the back of the store. As he entered the back room, he saw a robed figure sitting with their back facing him.

"Well this is a surprise. I honestly didn't expect you to get past my barrier so easily."

"Barrier?"

"The curtain you so easily brushed aside was a barrier meant to prevent demonic energies from passing through. The fact that you are here talking to me means you must be an exceptionally powerful demon to approach me so callously. So are you a doomguard, felguard, or perhaps even one of the powerful Nathrezim?"

"What makes you think I'm a demon?"

The woman didn't respond, instead she pushed herself off the ground with a grunt before walking over to him and touching his arm with a finger, "Hmm, I guess I was wrong about you being a demon. Wow, it's not every day I meet someone as unique as you. You are really one of a kind. Now then, what can old Gamara do for you?"

"A draenei called Dulir said you could help me. Is that true?"

"Dulir sent you eh?" Gamara asked as she dusted off her robe. Shaking the dirt off her hands she walked over to one of the many bookshelves lining the room she was in and started searching them, "So what did that old blowhard say about me anyway?"

"He said you could help me."

"Help you with what exactly? You have to be more specific."

"My friends and I got separated and I'm trying to find them. Dulir said you were the only person in Ironforge capable of helping me."

Not paying attention to Chad, Gamara cried out in triumph as she pulled a large dusty tome from the shelf and started leafing through the pages, "It is within my power to easily locate your friends with a spell and then teleport them here with another spell, all within 30 seconds. However, I will not be doing that."

For the first time in recent memory, Chad raised his voice, "Why not? You just said you could do it."

"While I did say I was able to, it is not in your best interests to actually meet your friends at this time," Gamara replied as she snapped the book closed and tossed it over her shoulder, narrowing missing Chad who leaned to the side. With that book gone, she continued to rifle through the bookshelves, "Tell me something Chad, if getting your friends back means damning millions of people living on Azeroth to an eternity of insanity as well as a fate worse than death, would you do so without a second though?"

Taken aback by the question, Chad responded, "What are you talking about? How does trying to find my friends connect with an entire planet?"

"It has EVERYTHING to do with this planet. Azeroth is its name by the way, for future reference. You and your friends' arrival here have interrupted events that were never going to be found out, events that would have played out for weeks, months, and even years before they were discovered. By the time they would be stopped, the damage would have been enormous and the amount of deaths would be on a scale incomprehensive to most minds. However, your arrival changed things and I do not know exactly what will happen. I would be very happy and excited in most other situations."

Chad couldn't respond as he took in all of what Gamara told him. Was it true that there were millions of lives depending on the actions of Ichigo, Uyru, himself and the others? How could they be the catalyst for so much in such a short amount of time? As his thoughts drifted onwards, he found himself feeling ashamed at his impatience to return home. His abuelo instilled into him many positive qualities that he stuck by for years and now he was willing to toss them aside in a heartbeat?

Chad looked at Gamara with steeled eyes and determination, "I cannot leave innocent people to suffer just so I can see my friends. What is it you want me to do?"

Gamara pulled another book off the shelf and walked over to Chad, "It's what I need, not what I want. There is a huge difference and for this case, it is even more so. As for what I need, take a look at the map drawn here. What do you notice about it?"

Grabbing the book out of her hands, Chad leaned it and took a close look at the picture spread out over both pages. At first glance it appeared to be a painstakingly detailed map of the world he was on, Azeroth, and showed three continents with the minutest details fleshed out in ink and drawn with the skill of a master. What drew his attention was the five points spread out in random spots on the map that were circled with red ink with text that was faded out with time.

"These five points are circled. What does that mean?"

Gamara smirked and said, "Are you sure that is what's important on that map?"

Understanding what she was trying to tell him, Chad leaned in closer to the book to read the almost disappeared text:

_Five unimaginably powerful leystones,_

_Used to contain a great evil by the Titans_

_Who did not trust the Dragons_

_It is he, whose name shall not be spoken_

_Whose voice was stolen to prevent the spread of destruction_

_Beware the being that is Hastar, the Shepherd of Insanity_

Chad couldn't help but feel a cold shudder make its way up his spine as he read over the text. Something about it just seemed wrong, as if some basic instinct he had long forgot has reawakened and was warning him.

"Who is Hastar?"

"That is a secret that you will find out in due time but since you agreed to help me, I will warn you not to say that name without caution. There are those who will be working against you that will attempt to stop you. Don't fret though, if you help there is an almost guaranteed chance you will run into your friends alive and well," Gamara said as she took the book from Chad and put it back in its spot.

"Who knows, perhaps when all is said and done you might find that Azeroth is more to your liking than your home."

"I doubt it."

"Whatever you say. Now you must leave my shop."

"Wait, I still have-"

Chad did not expect a woman of her size to be able to twist him around and push his back with enough force to make his feet skid along the ground, "I am a very busy woman with a lot of clients that need to not meet my succubus before she manages to re-summon herself." As she forced Chad out the door, she said one last thing before slamming it shut, "See Grazzle Arctwister in Tinker Town and tell him I sent you. He will help you on your first step."

"But why can't-"

Chad's question was ended early when he turned around. Instead of the outside of the shop he was familiar with, he found himself facing a blank wall with no sign that a store had ever existed there. In disbelief, he walked up to the wall and ran his hand on it, convinced that it was just an illusion made to hide the store. When he found that it was solid and real, he stepped back in astonishment.

"_What just happened? Did I actually meet that woman or was it all just a hallucination?"_

"I can see from your disbelief that you're the most recent person to meet the enigmatic Gamara."

Startled at the voice, Chad spun around and saw a night elf with glowing gold eyes lounging on the roof of a nearby building. The night elf seemed to be utterly relaxed as she calmly tossed a dagger into the air, "I wouldn't be too upset with her harsh treatment of you. The simple fact that she allowed you to see and enter her shop means that there is something very interesting about you that she needed to see with her own eyes."

"What do you mean?"

"What I mean," the night elf started saying as she sheathed the dagger and pushed herself off the wall, "Is that Gamara is a being that is powerful enough to enclose her shop in a pocket dimension of her own creation that only she and whoever she allows can see and access. I don't know more than one or two people besides you who have managed to be invited in. Most of the time people spend hours fruitlessly searching for her shop."

"What I mean by that," she began as she sheathed the dagger and hopped off the roof, landing on the street with a grunt, "Is that Gamara, while a powerful being, is very shy when it comes to strangers. So she encloses her shop in a pocket dimension of her own creation that only she, and those she allows, can enter. To be frank, I don't know more than one or two people besides you who have managed to be invited in. Tell me, did you see what she looked like?"

Chad thought about what to say for a moment before replying, "I'm afraid not. She wore a dark cloak that covered everything but her hands while I was in there."

"Crap, and here I thought I would finally be able to see what she looked like." The night elf sulked for a second before perking back up, "Well, what did she say? The only one I managed to find said she gave life-changing advice that makes no sense at first but was brilliant in the long run."

"_There are those who will be working against you that will attempt to stop you."_

Remembering Gamara's warning not to trust anyone, Chad responded to the night elf with a face as straight as ever, "I don't really know what her advice meant. All she said was to head south until I met a group of dwarves who swore off drinking."

In response to the false advice, the night elf groaned loudly, "Talk about giving some of the most difficult advice I have ever heard. I can't even remember meeting a single dwarf who didn't drink at least some time."

While the night elf was sulking, Chad took another look at the blank wall he exited the shop from, "Who is Gamara anyway? She didn't seem like a normal person."

"Eh…I wouldn't call her a person."

"Why?"

The night elf shrugged her shoulders as she yawned, "If we go by the stories passed around by drunkards in taverns, Gamara's shop of helpful advice has existed in some form for at least five decades. It first appeared as part of a caravan between the human settlements to the north before the first sightings of her shop in Ironforge about five years ago. What I find to be the most interesting bit of detail is that no matter who sees her, whether they be night elf, dwarf, orc, or whoever she allows into her shop, she always appears as a young and mostly-sane human that does not show any signs of aging."

"So she is immortal?"

"Or a dragon."

"A dragon?" Chad asked incredulously, "Wouldn't she be a bit…you know…bigger if she was a dragon?"

The night elf palmed her face with her hand at the question "Dragons can shape shift. You are a strange human, but I think that is what Gamara noticed about you."

"Thanks, I think." As he walked away, he remembered that Gamara never told him how exactly he was supposed to get to Tinker Town. Turning back to the night elf, Chad was about to ask for directions only to see that there was no one else around.

"But I'm still lost."

Without any real clue as to which direction he should head in, Chad decided to simply keep walking the same way he came. Eventually, he reasoned, he should either stumble upon Tinker Town or find someone who could point out how to get there.

"This world is full of strange people…"

* * *

...

* * *

***Well there you have it. Chapter 7 is up and the first hints for the long original arc are starting to fall into place. If you have been paying attention, I dropped hints to this plotline in earlier chapters. While I will not say exactly what was said, I will list the chapters to go back and read for the hints:**

**Chapter 2: The Arrival Arc: Renji**

**Chapter 5: The Arrival Arc: Ichigo**

***Mind you, these aren't BIG hints but they do help make sense of what was going on. This chapter, though, had the biggest drop of what was going to happen.**

***If you are a fan of H.P. Lovecraft, you will know the origin of the name in the text**

***The backgrounds of the characters introduced in this chapter will be put on my profile page to read**

***Read and Review please!**

**~Bahamut_Reshiki**


	8. Arrival Arc: Rukia

I do not own the characters, ideas, and/or places from either Bleach or World of Warcraft and their respective universes. Tite Kubo and Blizzard® own them respectively. Any original characters in the story belong to me. Any comparisons to other fan fiction or series characters are entirely coincidental and not intentional.

Hello - Normal Speech

_Hello_ - Thoughts

**Hello** - Demons / Titans/ Inner Hollow/ Dragons / Arrancar Released Form

_**Hello**_ – Thoughts of Demons / Titans/ Inner Hollow/ Dragons / Arrancar Released Form

**Notice 1: **I have taken liberties regarding the backgrounds of several characters.

_Here is the chapter that introduces one of the favorite characters in Bleach – Rukia. As many of my reviews have guessed, she has indeed ended up in Northrend but not as many of you may expect. What she does up there will surprise some of you, infuriate others, and make the rest nod in appreciation. _

_**Review Responses**_

**Shinkicker: **Actually the name Gamara was thought up on the fly. I typed it in after posting the chapter and found that it was from Godzilla.

**Daval Prestor: **I realize that I spelled the name slightly different. Blizzard has a tendency to slightly alter the spelling of elder and old gods and so I decided to do the same.

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_..._

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**Chapter 8: The Arrival Arc: Rukia**

_Stormwind Keep_

"That is a lot to take in Katrana. Are you absolutely sure that this man warrants such a threat to the kingdom?"

The recipient of the question, Katrana Prestor, adjusted her full-length robes as she walked alongside Bolvar Fordragon through Stromwind Keep. When the message was sent to Bolvar that she was back, she did not expect him to come find her so quickly. While she may not have had enough time to create a fully convincing cover story, she was still able to describe what happened in Duskwood…with some small changes of course.

"When did you start doubting me Bolvar? Have I ever given you information that led you astray or caused more harm than good?"

"No but-"

"Then what is the problem?"

Bolvar rubbed the bridge of his nose as he felt a headache start to develop, "It is not the information that you have given me that I doubt Katrana. It is as precise and detailed as always. In fact, it may even be more so. The problem is that I find it hard to believe that you, the woman who believes that Stormwind doesn't need to worry about any threats outside the kingdom, are suddenly so adamant about sending soldiers to Duskwood. It is concerning to say the least."

With his worry stated, the duo continued their walk through the keep, their steps echoing through the halls. After walking in relative silence apart from the occasional greeting to several diplomats and ambassadors, Bolvar turned back to Katrana.

"Let's say you are absolutely correct in this case and that soldiers should be sent to Duskwood, what proof do you have that this man is a danger to the kingdom? Like it or not I will not sit back and condone killing a man only to later find out he was innocent."

Katrana scoffed at this, "Don't be so naïve Bolvar. Do you really believe I would have told you all this if there was even the slightest possibility that this information was false? I am a woman who thinks before she acts after all. I have already independently verified the evidence with multiple parties and the conclusion that they all came to is the same: this man is in league with the Lich King."

"Keep your voice down!" Bolvar harshly whispered while covering her mouth with his hand as he quickly looked around to make sure no one heard that. "You are well aware of the panic that name could cause. Almost a fifth of Stormwind's population consists of refugees from Lordaeron. Saying words that even sound like that name around them can lead to a full-scale panic."

Katrana struggled for a second before she managed to pull Bolvar's hand off her mouth, "That is exactly my point Bolvar. You weren't there during the spreading of the plague, yet you reacted as if your life was on the line. How do you think the residents of the city will react when rumors of the plague start arriving from the south?"

Bolvar groaned as he realized Katrana was right…again. He didn't know how she did it, but every time he had an argument with her about policies concerning the kingdom she always seemed to win. This time though, he agreed with her argument. Whether or not this man was actually working for the Lich King, it warranted an investigation at least.

"Very well, did your source, this…scout of yours…manage to get a description or a name for this man?"

Letting out a sly smile that went unnoticed by Bolvar, Katrana began her _slightly_ altered tale, "I am ashamed to admit that my scout did not manage to find out this man's name. It appears that he is supposed to be in a position of utmost secrecy and therefore is to remain anonymous at all time."

Bolvar grimaced at the implications such a position could lead to, "While that is indeed terrible, what about a description?"

"That, my dear Bolvar, he was able to easily see. When he told me of this man's description, I second-guessed it myself but I have no reason to think he would lie to me after so many years of superb service. Apparently this man's most striking feature is the bright orange hair. Along with that he wore something that looked like a black robe tied together with a white sash but it was the weapon he wielded that drew my interest the most."

"Weapon?" Bolvar almost whispered, "Was it another cursed blade like Frostmourne?"

Katrana frowned and appeared to be in deep thought, "My spy was certain it was nothing like a runeblade. The description he wrote down was that it was approximately five to six feet in length and silver in color."

Intrigued at the description, Bolvar asked, "This man does seem to stand out quite a bit. It should make finding him many times easier. However, there is still one thing bothering me."

"Oh?"

"If this man is as dangerous as you say, how did the scout manage to get away unscathed? One would think he would have been found and killed long before he managed to report any such findings

Katrana grimaced as she stopped walking and looked out on the royal gardens, "I did not want to tell you this but he only managed to get away due to the man getting into an argument with the death knight he was meeting with. According to the report, the man met with the death knight, whose name appears to be Bloodhaze, and started talking in hushed voices that my scout couldn't here. After a while, the two of them appeared to have a…disagreement. The man proceeded to attack and destroy the death knight's runeblade with a single attack before allowing him to flee."

"_You can rot in hell Bloodhaze for making threats against me. I will make sure the last thing your undead eyes see is me laughing as you slowly die."_

Bolvar cupped his chin as his mind went over the new information, "If this man is strong enough to do such a feat, then he is indeed a threat to the kingdom. While I will send soldiers to Duskwood to apprehend him, I will give them strict orders to bring him in unharmed. For all I know, this man could have stumbled upon the death knight and tried to stop whatever plans he may have had for us all."

A dark shadow passed over Katrana's face that Bolvar thought was just a trick of the shadows. Before he could ponder on it, it was gone and replaced with her usual expression, "…very well, I will defer to your judgment on this military matter but I want to make one thing clear Bolvar. If this man happens to be a threat I will make sure everyone in the kingdom knows you are the one who let him live."

Standing there silently, Bolvar watched as Katrana stormed away down the hall and around a corner. Rubbing his forehead to try and forestall the oncoming headache, _"This is just great. Now I'm going to have to deal with a pissed-off Prestor for the next day or so."_

"_That did not go as expected,"_ Katrana thought as she quickly made her way through the keep. _"I had fully expected Bolvar to cow to my demands to kill that human and yet he had the audacity to go against me?"_

One of the guards watching over the only gate into and out of the keep noticed her coming and opened the door for her. She didn't even acknowledge the gesture as she made her way out into the city, _"Granted he did agree to send troops out to Duskwood to apprehend him. If the plan is to succeed, he will need to be eliminated before he has the chance to talk."_

"It's a good thing I have a few friends that owe me favors…"

* * *

...

* * *

_Northrend: Howling Fjord_

Rukia blinked owlishly as consciousness returned to her. Groaning, she picked herself off the ground and shook the cobwebs from her head.

Once she was fully off the ground, she dusted the sand that still stuck to her clothes and took a good look at her surroundings. It appeared that when she went through the portal it ended up transporting her to a beach that, by the slight chill in the wind, was located somewhere in the north. Silently thanking that her zanpakuto's element was ice, she easily brushed off the normally cold wind and asked the obvious question, "Just where the hell am I?"

Turning away from the ocean, Rukia finally noticed the reason for why everything seemed to be cast in shadow. Stretching down the coast on both sides as far as she could see was a large and imposing cliff. Craning her head up to look at the top, she frowned when she realized that it was so high that it was nearly impossible to see just what was up there with any clarity.

"Well, if I'm going to see where I am, being up there is a lot better than standing on this beach."

Running toward the cliff, she applied a small burst of spiritual energy to her legs and jumped from the ground onto an outcropping jutting out from the cliff several meters above the ground. While the first few jumps went perfectly fine, by around the sixth Rukia noticed she was winded and by the tenth she was almost totally exhausted. Stumbling upon landing, she leaned against the cliffs as she gulped down air while trying to figure out what was wrong.

"_What is wrong with me? There is no way that such a simple exercise of applying spiritual energy to increase the distance I can jump should take such a heavy toll on me. I feel as if I'm almost out of energy."_

Once she was able to catch her breath, Rukia looked up and saw that she was not even a third of the way to the top, "Ugh, at the rate I'm going I'll die of exhaustion long before I reach the top. There has to be another way up somewhere else. Her mind made up, she pushed off the cliff and jumped into the air.

Landing softly on the ground, Rukia turned around and looked back at the cliffs, "I have to say this place is rather annoying. How am I going to get out of this mess?"

As she walked down the beach, Rukia failed to notice the slight glimmer shining from atop the cliff.

* * *

...

* * *

Perched on the edge of the cliffs sat Baelgun's Excavation Site. Abandoned several years ago by its namesake as he left to guard Doorward from the ancient evils resting below, the site has since been reclaimed by the newly seen iron dwarves that have recently become a major power in Northrend. Taking up from where their cousins of flesh left off, they started rapidly excavating various sites through the northern continent in search of titanic artifacts and remnants with vigor unmatched. Without the weaknesses given to them by flesh and blood they were able to work many times faster and for far longer periods of time without rest.

Just because they were constructed of iron and steel does not mean that the iron dwarves are devoid of emotions. One such dwarf could be seen running down the wooden ramps leading to various levels of the dig site while pushing past iron golem sentries and various excavators, who cursed at him as he ran into them. Clutching the piece of parchment in his hand, he reached the bottom of the site and hurried inside a freshly opened mine. Once his glowing eyes adjusted to the abrupt change in lighting, he saw who he was looking for and raced over to him.

"Sir!" he said with a metallic tone as he reached his taskmaster.

The taskmaster of the site, Munar, calmly put down the schematics he was reading and turned his glowing eyes until they made contact with the panting messenger. After a moment of silence he asked, "Well, what is it?"

"Take a look at this. It will tell you all that you need to know."

Munar grabbed the parchment from the messenger's hands and skimmed through it. After reading and then rereading it to make sure he wasn't seeing things, he crumpled it up and angrily snarled, "Do you take me for a fool? How can you possibly believe the drivel that is written down on this piece of garbage?"

Backing up slightly, the messenger raised his arms in self-defense, "I believe it because I witnessed it firsthand."

"What?"

"It's true sir, we were scouting the cliffs to the south for any future excavation sites when she appeared. We observed her for a while and then I was sent back here to report our findings."

Munar calmed down slightly at this revelation. Perhaps what he saw actually did occur. If that were the case, it would be useful in securing favor with the master, "Head back with the strict order to only observe and not to attack. If I happen to change my mind or if any new orders are to be given, I will let you know."

As the messenger hurried out of the mine, Munar turned around and traveled the other way, deeper in the caverns. Unbeknownst to most of the iron dwarves working on the site, the main purpose of the dig was already achieved and activated - a titanic communication device, capable of enabling conversations across the length of Azeroth without being sensed.

Approaching the device, Munar reached forward and rested his hands on the two columns in front of the console. Once they started glowing blue, he stepped back and watched the device activate as various lights blinked on and steam was forced out of the side. Hoping that it wouldn't take long, he had to wait but a moment for the central platform to glow white as the irritated hologram of what appeared to be a man blinked into existence.

"**Speak quickly and I might consider making your death for interrupting me painless."**

Munar quickly got on one knee, "Master Loken, I am only talking to you due to some very important information that I just received not ten minutes ago."

Loken stared down at Munar long enough that the iron dwarf was starting to believe he was about to be killed. It was only when the titanic watcher spoke that he mentally sighed in relief.

"**Taskmaster Munar, you are one of my most reliable creations and thus I will defer on punishing you for the moment."**

"Master Loken, a messenger came to me with the news that a female human appeared out of a swirling black vortex just south of here at the base of the cliffs. She then proceeded to stand and jump several meters at a time up the cliff before giving up and jumping down over fifty meters to safely land on the sandy ground."

Loken's avatar raised a hand to its mouth as he pondered over the information the iron dwarf just told him. Most beings would have dismissed the claims as ludicrous but Loken did not survive for tens of thousands of years by keeping a narrow mindset. When he was contacted by Munar he expected dire news such as an attack but in the end, this was still very interesting news.

The abilities displayed by this human were enough to warrant further inquiry and study but it was the method in which she was said to have arrived that intrigued him the most. Going through his vast store of knowledge accumulated over many millennia, Loken could not remember such a specific method of transportation.

"**The information you have conveyed to me is enough for me to let you live this day Munar. I want you to give the order to capture this human…_alive_…and bring her to Thor Modan to the north. Once you bring her there, you will know exactly what to do with her. You are dismissed."**

Backing up while still facing Loken, Munar was about exit the chamber when the watcher started speaking again, **"Oh, there is one small thing I forget to do…"**

The next moment Munar knew only blinding pain as his left arm was vaporized into a metallic dust. Grasping his shoulder in agony, he turned to face his master, "But why?"

"**That was your punishment for having the audacity to contact me without permission. You should be grateful that the information you have told me was enough to spare you life for the moment. If you can manage to bring this human to Thor Modan successfully, I will gladly restore your arm." **With that final message said, the avatar of Loken blinked out of existence as the machine returned to its initial state.

With the pain now a constant throb of agony, Munar stumbled out of the chamber and headed to the entrance of the mine. He had an order to give after all…

* * *

...

* * *

Oblivious to the forces working against her, Rukia sat down on the ground and looked up at the cliff. Huffing in indignation, she let out a sigh and groaned.

"This is not working the way I thought it would. I might as well follow the coastline for another way off this beach."

Her trek down the beach was uneventful apart from the occasional seal barking in the ocean or hawks screeching from their nests in the cliffs. After what seemed like hours, Rukia trudged through the wet sand around a bend in the beach and came face-to-face with a potential solution to her problem.

After an initial moment of gawking, Rukia whistled in awe as she approached the tall structured anchored into the sand and stretching up to the top of the cliffs.

"Is that a…lift?"

The structure did, in fact, appear to be a rudimentary lift constructed out of metal and wood. Raising a hand to her forehead to block out the sun, she saw that the top of the lift was built into an accurate representation of what appeared to be a dragon's head.

Her initial relief was quickly replaced by apprehension mixed with a small amount of curiosity. Walking around the wooden base, she traced her fingers along the aged material, _"This wood is preserved. This means that whoever built this lift did so many decades ago. If the people who lived here managed to accomplish such a feat, where are they now?"_

With her curiosity sated for the moment, Rukia ascended the ramp leading to the simple controls for the lift, "This isn't complicated at all. All I have to do is-"

Her train of thought was stopped when her ears picked up a sharp whistling sound that seemed to be getting louder. Eyes widening, she vaulted to the right as the dagger thrown at her missed stabbing her shoulder and instead flew past her into the rocks of the cliffs. Pivoting around to face her attacker, she ducked under the swing of a metal axe and then backflipped off the lift to avoid the slash that attempted to cut her in half.

Her train of thought was halted when her ears picked up a sharp whistling sound. Drawing her zanpakuto, she twisted around and deflected the dagger thrown at her. She did not have time to rest as several more daggers flew through the air towards her. Cursing under her breath, she dodged most of them and blocked any that got through her defense with her sword.

Seeing a shadow on the ground around her, Rukia looked up and immediately threw herself forward. The second her foot moved an axe swung downwards and shattered the wood beneath it. Perching on her hands, she kicked backwards and managed to make contact with whoever was attacking her. Her opponent let out a small grunt as he was forced to stumble back a few steps. He quickly regained his balance as he once again swung his axe, this time with the intent to cut her in half.

Unable to dodge the strike, Rukia jumped off the platform and landed safely on the ground. As soon as she touched down, she spun around to finally get a good look at her opponent, "Just what are you supposed to be exactly?"

Instead of responding, the short man composed of blue and grey glowing metal grunted as he changed his grip on the axe. Keeping her eyes focused on him as he walked to the edge of the lift above her, Rukia was only slightly startled as he let out a loud yell and threw his weapon at her.

Leaning backwards to avoid the spinning weapon from decapitating her, Rukia almost didn't notice her opponent leap off the lift and attempt to punch her, _"This creature is smarter than I first assumed he was. He knew that he couldn't hit me with his weapon so he used it as a diversion knowing I would easily dodge it. While I was busy he would have a higher chance of hitting me."_

Twisting around the attack, Rukia went on the defensive as the iron dwarf pick up his axe and starting swinging it at her randomly. Ducking, dodging and dancing around the attacks, Rukia avoided the majority of the swings while parrying the remainder with her zanpakuto. Each and every time that she pushed back the saronite axe, the iron dwarf was pushed off balance by her surprising strength.

As Rukia continued to dance around his attacks, the iron dwarf was quickly becoming enraged, "Why won't you stay still?"

Surprised slightly that he could talk, Rukia used her zanpakuto to push the axe to the side as she delivered an elbow thrust to what she assumed to be his neck, "You can talk?"

"Of course I can!" he angrily replied as he brushed off the attack and countered with one of his own, "Stand sill already!"

"What?" she responded as she flipped over the head of the dwarf and kicked down on his neck with her feet, "Do you honestly expect me to just stand still and let you kill me? Are you lacking in intelligence?"

Seething in rage, the iron dwarf attempted to grab Rukia's foot only to grasp air instead. Turning around, he saw her standing several meters away from him with a finger in her ear and a bored expression on her face. Snapping at the lack of focus she was giving him, he frothed at the mouth and screamed, "I will kill you slowly and without mercy. Your screams will echo throughout Northrend for years to come! You will-"

His ranting was cut short as Rukia simply _vanished_ from where she was standing. Looking around for her, he was stunned when he felt a leg connect with the back of his knees, forcing him to the ground. Before he could figure out what was going on, an arm snaked around his neck and a palm was placed against his back.

"What's going on? How the hell did you do that?"

Rukia did not respond and instead continued to speak the incantation. A second later her eyes shot open as the red spiritual energy coalesced into a sphere, "While I would rather just walk away from you, I doubt you will take the hint to leave me alone. Hado Number 31: Shakkahou!"

Sensing the power of the attack, the iron dwarf managed to break out of Rukia's headlock and attempted to spin around and block the dangerous attack with his axe. While it was a good strategy, he did not take into account the sheer power behind the kido.

The attack slammed into his saronite weapon, which held for a moment before shattering into thousands of pieces. The iron dwarf didn't even have time to blink before the kido hit him and exploded, releasing a large cloud of smoke. Within seconds of the explosion, he was flung out of the smoke and propelled into the air before crashing back to the ground.

A few seconds after the iron dwarf was propelled through the air Rukia emerged from the smoke, stumbling blindly as she coughed. After managing to catch her breath, she held up her arm and winced slightly. While the majority of the damage from the kido was done to the iron dwarf, part of it somehow backfired and left her forearm covered in slight burns, _"What happened? I did the incantation and movements correctly and yet it felt as if I was a novice attempting the kido for the first time. What is even stranger is that the amount of spiritual energy needed to power that kido was several times higher than it should have been."_

The sound of heavy footsteps landing drew her out of her thoughts. Surrounding her downed opponent were several figures who looked almost exactly like him. Noticing them about the same time she did, her opponent coughed harshly as he attempted to drag himself off the ground but failed due to missing his left arm and leg as well as a large chuck of his body.

"I can…still fight her. Just…give me…a chance…to get healed."

The iron dwarf sneered at him, "Do not degrade yourself any further. You knew that you were supposed to capture the human unharmed and yet in your mind, you felt the need to go and try and kill her. All of which was directly against the master's orders."

The downed iron dwarf's eyes widened at this and attempted to crawl away. The leader did not bother waiting and with one quick motion severed the fallen iron dwarf's head from his body.

Appalled at what she just saw, Rukia shouted, "Why did you do that? Wasn't he your comrade?"

The iron dwarf did not respond as he silently ordered two other dwarves to pick up the fallen iron dwarf's body. "I do believe," he finally began as he stabbed his sword into the ground and turned to face Rukia, "A thank you is in order. I did just finish off your opponent, who was trying to kill you after all."

Steeling herself, Rukia brought her zanpakuto up in preparation for another battle, "That reason alone gives you the right to kill him?"

"No, what gives me that right is that he disobeyed a direct order from our master, Loken, to bring you in alive and unharmed. In his bullheaded attempt to prove his superiority he rushed into battle against an opponent that he knew nothing about and so faced the ultimate penalty for his actions."

"You want to capture me? What for?"

"That is none of your concern human. If you surrender quietly, the injuries you might sustain will be kept to a minimum."

While the iron dwarf was talking to her, Rukia did not fail to notice the other dwarves slowly closing in around her, "Like I would let you just capture me without a fight!" As soon as she said that, Rukia turned and bolted back towards the lift. As the iron dwarves moved to intercept her, she jumped into the air and with one quick swipe, severed the thick iron chain leading from the lift on the ground all the way to the top.

With nothing remaining that was able to counter the weight of the massive iron chain, it quickly began accelerating to the top of the cliffs. Before it managed to get out of reach, Rukia jumped up and stabbed her zanpakuto through one of the chain links and held on tightly.

The leader of the iron dwarves did not move as he watched Rukia escape from them. His eyes did not leave her body until she disappeared over the edge of the cliff and when she did, he turned to his men, "Regroup and head north to the Midwall Lift. We must capture her before she leaves the fjord or the consequences will be dire for us all."

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**Note 1: I took some liberates with the history of Howling Fjord in order to make the storyline work**

_Well, Chapter 8 was the seventh and last chapter in the Arrival Arc. The next chapter starts the new and original arc. I have a few ideas for the overall name of the arc but I will not release the name until the next chapter is good and ready. So stay tuned and as always, reviews are appreciated._

~Bahamut_Reshiki


	9. Chapter 9: Uryu I

**I do not own the characters, ideas, and/or places from either Bleach or World of Warcraft and their respective universes. Tite Kubo and Blizzard® own them respectively. Any original characters in the story belong to me. Any comparisons to other fan fiction or series characters are entirely coincidental and not intentional.**

Hello - Normal Speech

_Hello_ - Thoughts

**Hello** - Demons / Titans/ Inner Hollow/ Dragons / Arrancar Released Form

_**Hello**_ – Thoughts of Demons / Titans/ Inner Hollow/ Dragons / Arrancar Released Form

**I love reviews. To see that someone took the time to log in (or not) and criticize my work is fantastic. I don't care if the review is positive or negative as long as they give good reasons for their response I'm happy. I have gotten reviews that pointed out plot holes, questions I didn't answer, or simply things that I forgot.**

**I wanted to try and do what I normally do but Uryu's segment just kept writing itself. It eventually reached the point where I had almost 4,500 words written down before I was done. I decided to see how this chapter format goes in order to determine what I do in the future involving the pacing of the story. Do I continue to do 3-4 short segments per chapter or focus on one character per chapter in order to really flesh out their story?**

**Please PM or say in a review which method you prefer: One character per chapter or my earlier method. Depending on what is said I will go back and add material to the earlier sections (Chapters 9 – 11) in order to make them full-blown chapters.**

**Without further delay here is chapter 12 of "Bleached into Azeroth."**

_**Reviews**_

**1. LeadStragetist: **_**"**__i really like your story. i was curious about something though. if you had had Orihime show up in here what would the time dragon's reaction to that be? her power is basically the regression of fate/time. i'd think they'd absolutely freak over it and try to kill her. it was a random thought and it nagged me to the point that i decided to just post this question."_

You would be correct in that the bronze dragonflight would be scared to death of her and try to full-out kill her. But fortunately for Orihime she will not be appearing in this story for a long, long time, if she even does.

**2. TerraBull: **_**"**__Chad - Heh, he gets a armor and possibly a reputation? Otherwise, I think you wrote Ironbrand as Ionbrand a few times. Neliel - Can she Konso? I am curious what she will do once she gets to Silvermoon City. Uryu - Heh, saying that after his intrusion? Will he offer to make some Custom Tailored clothes for her?"_

In order: Chad does get a set of armor but I am allowing my readers to choose on it. Since the timeline of this game starts late in Burning Crusade but way before Wrath of the Lich King, his armor can be from Tiers 1 to 6. Ironband is the actual name of the explorer in charge of the dig site in Loch Modan. I do not think arrancar can konso and what she will do in the future is a mystery. Uryu is always classy in times of stress.

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**Secret of the Dragonflights Arc**

**Chapter 9: Uryu's Battle through the Scarlet Monastery**

Ducking under his opponent's wild swing, Uryu twisted around and slammed his knee into him stomach. The man barely managed to stay standing before he collapsed to the ground coughing and wheezing. Standing over the man, Uryu's ears picked up something whistling through the air. Crouching and reaching around, he caught the woman's wrist, stopping the axe in mid-swing.

Uryu increased the pressure on her wrist until she was forced to drop her weapon in pain, "That will be enough from you."

The woman attempted to pull her wrist out of Uryu's grip but found it somehow impossible, "How are you so strong?"

"My father is a doctor so I would know exactly where to hold someone in order to incapacitate them. Now then, will you tell me just why you attempted to kill me?"

She seethed and spit on Uryu, "I will not cow down to you demon. I will get free and destroy you and if I die doing so then my brethren will-"

Her ranting was cut short as Uryu punched her in the stomach and knocking her unconscious. Rubbing his fist from hitting her armor, Uryu grimaced and looked up at the monastery standing ominously on the cliff. It was not long after his confrontation with that mysterious woman on the beach that he made contact with the group of humans in armor. Attempting to be friendly, he approached them unarmed only for them to shout at him and rush towards him with their weapons brandished.

Walking over the bodies and towards the monastery, Uryu kept to the trees just off the road in order to avoid any more confrontations with these people. The woman did say that there were others like her with similar beliefs so he felt it was better to be safe then sorry. Jumping onto a low hanging branch, Uryu saw that the front entrance to the monastery was heavily guarded by dozens of men and women in matching scarlet and yellow armor.

_"This is crazy," he thought, "Here I am attempting to break into the stronghold of a group of radical people who see everyone else as demons when I should be trying to track down Ichigo and the others and find a way home. Granted these people may have a library of sorts somewhere in that building with maps and books that could be a big help in the long run."_

Uryu looked around for an entrance, "Attempting to go in through the front door will most likely involve heavy fighting. If I am going to find out what is going on I will need to make myself a path."

Noticing that the rooftops of the monastery was not guarded at all, Uryu thought of an idea, _"If I could manage to distract the patrols for at least a minute I might be able to make it to the roof without being seen."_

Forming his Ginrei Kojaku, Uryu carefully aimed and fired off a shot towards a tree far enough away that it would take the scarlet crusaders a while to investigate. The spiritual arrow flew through the air and hit the tree, vaporizing a large chunk of bark around where it hit and causing the tree to collapse towards the monastery. Uryu watched his work play out as the tree hit the monastery, causing a large portion of a wall to collapse.

As the scarlet crusaders rushed off to figure out what happened and help those that may have gotten hurt, Uryu took his chance and raced across the ground towards the walls. Hopping onto a ledge near a ground floor window, he pushed himself into the air several times before grabbing the edge of the roof. Glancing around quickly to make sure no one was up there, he pulled himself up and rolled onto his back just as a few of the patrols made their way back.

"That was close. I don't know how Ichigo does this on a regular basis. I would feel sorry for him if he didn't cause most of his problems himself."

Pulling himself up into a sitting position, Uryu carefully looked over the edge of the roof. When he saw the crusaders moving around normally or as close to normally as one could after an "accident" he let out a sigh of relief and took in his surroundings. While most of the rooftops were level there was a large steeple to the north that rose at least fifty feet above everything else.

"That seems like a good place to start looking around."

Uryu had to pause several times as he made his way across the rooftops, careful not to draw attention to himself. Getting closer to the cathedral, his sharp mind began to take in the entire building in order to figure out the best way to get in. Noticing large ornate windows on a ledge above him he carefully climbed the masonry and tried to look through one of them only to find that it was too thick to see through. When he attempted to push it open, he found that it was welded shut with age.

As he got closer to the cathedral, he was able to see that it was actually bigger than it first appeared. Looking around for a possible way in, Uryu noticed large ornate windows on a ledge several meters above him. Jumping onto the ledge, he attempted to look through one of them only to find that the glass was too thick. Not put off by this, he tried to push the window open but found it was sealed shut with rust and age.

Jumping down to the rooftops, Uryu looked up at the window, _"That one was no good. Perhaps I will have more luck with one of the other windows. I doubt the people inside expect someone to reach this point without being spotted."_

After several more attempts, Uryu finally found a window that was still accessible. Gently pushing on the edge of it, it opened with a small creak as years of collected dust fell from it. Instead of immediately looking through the window, he leaned against the wall of the cathedral for a moment in case someone inside might have heard the window open. When no footsteps were heard, Uryu pushed the window open some more and looked around.

To his disappointment, the window did not lead to an office or even a library. It instead opened up to the top of a large chapel. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness inside the building, Uryu noticed that the hall was almost entirely empty except for a figure kneeling in front of a statue. Trying to get a better look at the person, Uryu cursed when he found he couldn't.

_"The light in here is too low to get a better look. I would need to enter to do so but that would alert this entire place to my presence, which is the last thing on my mind." _

Uryu continued to watch the figure below as they went about a routine that consisted of praying, pacing back and forth while talking under their breath, and reading from the book on a pedestal in front of the statue. After a while of seeing nothing new occur, Uryu was about to leave to look somewhere else when the large doors to the chapel opened and a large man followed by dozens of armored figures entered.

The figure in the chapel stopped their passing and turned towards the approaching people, "Herod! What is the meaning of this?"

Uryu smirked as the woman's voice reached him loud and clear,_ "It's convenient that the architecture of the cathedral allows sound to carry throughout the entire structure. I just need to be careful to not make any sounds myself."_

Herod kept walking as the men and women with him ran by him and spread out through the chapel as if they were looking for something.

"My apologies High Inquisitor Whitemane, but we are actually here for your own protection."

"My protection?" she scoffed, "What are you talking about?"

Herod didn't respond he as moved past her and out of view. After about a minute, he reappeared, "Where is Mograine?"

"What is all of this about Herod?" Whitemane repeated with a little more force in her voice.

"There have been reports of an intruder in the monastery heading in this general direction. When our men failed to find him, I assumed the worst and took as many crusaders as possible when I rushed here. We must have managed to beat the assassin to you since you are still alive. Now tell me where Mograine is."

"He left several hours ago to take command of a large scouting party to the south near the Bulwark due to those Argent Dawn fools policy of _diplomacy_. Wait a second, you think he's involved with this?"

"Of course not," Herod said defensively, "I was just hoping he was here to better organize our defenses in case the assassin is not alone."

As they conversed, Uryu's mind tried to process what was said, _"It appears that I was not as stealthy as I thought if one of their men managed to see me. Granted I did come this far without being spotted. But something that Herod person said intrigued me. He spoke as if he knew I was heading here specifically but the path I took was long and I had to go out of my way to get here."_

He was brought out of his thoughts when Whitemane asked, "Have your men checked the monastery rooftops?"

"They are already up there."

Uryu's eyes widened in surprise as he turned away from the window, _"They're already on the rooftops? Have I been so focused on eavesdropping that I let my guard down?"_

"Step away from the window assassin!" a man's voice shouted.

Uryu bit his lip in frustration as he carefully turned around on the ledge. Looking on the roof around him he found that he was surrounded by at least a dozen men and women armed with bows, crossbows, and rudimentary guns. Sighing in aggravation, he calmly replied, "You will probably not believe a word of this but this isn't what it looks like."

"Is that so? Well then you should come down to our interrogation chambers. We can clear the whole thing up," the man sneered.

"I think I will take a rain check," he said as he stepped back to the window.

Uryu mentally counted down from three before throwing his back against the open window. Falling through the window just as a hail of arrows flew through where his head would have been, he twisted around as he fell before landing heavily, but safely on his feet. Now safe from the threat of being skewered by arrows, Uryu realized that he now faced the equal threat of getting stabbed to death.

"Assassin!" Herod shouted as he stood in front of Whitemane.

Now that he was inside the chapel, Uryu could finally see what Whitemane looked like. Young and thin with long white hair and a revealing outfit, she would make most girls in Karakura Town green with envy and most men pine for her affection. Uryu, the chivalrous man he was, had a slightly different reaction even in the deadly situation he was in.

"Put some clothes on woman, you're indecent."

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Sylvanas leaned over one of the parapets of Lordearon Castle and took in the surrounding blighted land. She had been waiting patiently up there for about an hour, waiting for the last of her dark rangers to return from the north. While the first two denied finding anything and apologized greatly for it, the fact that her last ranger had not come back for hours allowed Sylvanas to believe she may have found something…or was dead. Either way it narrowed down the area she would need to search for the anomaly.

Feeling a slight shift in the mana around her that signaled the arrival of a dark ranger, Sylvanas stepped onto the edge of the parapet and walked off it into the air. Falling, she lazily turned around and easily landed on a small ledge outside the castle ruins without injury. Crossing her arms under her chest, she didn't have long to wait as a dark ranger materialized from the shadows.

"I hope your tardiness is explainable."

The dark ranger fell onto her knees before speaking, "Please forgive me Dark Lady, but the information I have managed to gather may be quite invaluable."

Sylvanas simply continued to stare coldly at the dark ranger, "Tell me."

"After leaving the Undercity, my sisters and I decided to spread out in a trident pattern, one headed towards Brill, the other to Brightwater Lake and I myself carefully made my way to the Scarlet Monastery. It was there that I made indirect contact with the target."

Sylvanas stared at the dark ranger for a moment before looking across Lordamere Lake to the south, "The information you may have is crucial and for now I need you to dispose of the formalities. Did you manage to observe the anomaly?"

"Yes."

"Describe it."

"It resembled a human male with glasses, black hair and dressed in an entirely white outfit."

"Did you observe him manipulate pure mana?"

"When I found him, I made sure I was far enough away from him that he would not be able to sense my presence unless I purposely allowed him to. As I watched him, I saw him sneak into the Scarlet Monastery by shaping a bow out of his mana and then firing an arrow with it as a diversion."

"Hmm," Sylvanas pondered, "He is able to freely shape pure mana and he is a competent tactician. Is there anything else you can tell me?"

"There was a…feeling I got from the mana attack."

"A feeling? Sylvanas pondered.

The dark ranger fidgeted before responding, "When the human fired that diversion a feeling crept through my body. I don't know why but I felt that if he had aimed that attack at me and it hit me directly, I would be instantly killed."

Sylvanas didn't speak for a moment as she tried to grasp what the dark ranger was saying, "Anything else?"

The dark ranger shook her head; "Unfortunately his diversion put the entire monastery on high alert. It would have been nearly impossible for me to follow him onto the rooftops without been seen or sensed by the paladins and priests within. "

Sylvanas mentally grimaced at the missed opportunity to find out what this human was doing sneaking into the Scarlet Monastery. Just by the fact he wasn't walking in through the front doors indicated he was not on the most pleasant of terms with them. While she wanted to berate the dark ranger kneeling in front of her, she knew that nothing the dark ranger could have done would have been able to change anything.

"Understood. Excellent work. Go back to the Undercity and report your findings to the two sisters that accompanied you and then wait for further instructions."

Getting to her feet, the dark ranger gave a quick bow before disappearing back into the shadows. Sylvanas waited a moment before turned around, "How long have you been listening to us Varimathras?"

The dreadlord let out a hollow chuckle as he materialized in a swarm of bats, **"I felt it was necessary for me to eavesdrop. After all, it does deal with a serious threat to my personal health."**

"That can't be all you are here for," Sylvanas mockingly added.

**"As always you think you are able to read me like a book but in this case, you are correct. The 'holy' feeling I felt from the man your dark rangers encountered was so peculiar I felt it necessary to listen in on the report first hand."**

"So you are scared and wanted to find out as much as possible?"

**"I'm not scared, I'm just trying to keep myself as healthy as possible. Now on to more serious matters…what are you going to do about him? With the information you received it does appear that he has no intentions of coming at you directly. The attack against one of your dark rangers and those humans are simply examples of him responding to threats against his own person."**

"My ranger gave me more information than she realized. The human only attacks those that attempt to harm him and judging by his reaction to the scarlet crusaders, he doesn't have anyone willing to help him. If he could someone meet someone he can trust, someone willing to work with him, imagine the information and secrets he could tell…"

**"Interesting idea Sylvanas. The only problem is he would probably not ally with any Forsaken out of sheer disgust for their form. Knowing that, I take it you already have such a volunteer?"**

"Of course my dear dreadlord," Sylvanas answered with a smirk on her face, "How would you like to temporarily take command of the Undercity for a little while?"

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"What did you just say?"

Uryu ignored the indignant look on Whitemane's face in favor of focusing on Herod, who seemed to be trying to inch closer to him. Moving his eyes away from Herod and around the cathedral he saw that the crusaders surrounding him were gripping their weapons in barely concealed anger and rage.

"Your attire," he repeated, "It is indecent. You should change into something more appropriate."

Whitemane gasped and took a step back. Clenching a fist, she shouted, "You have absolutely no manners! First you come here to kill me and now you dare insult the way I dress? When we are through with you, you will wish you were never born!"

Feeling that the situation was getting out of hand and in no mood to fight, Uryu raised his hands in order to try and placate Whitemane, "Hold on, what makes you think I came here to kill you?"

"Are you dense?" Whitemane scoffed at Uryu, "You break into our monastery, sneak across the rooftops and then spy on me. You would have to be an idiot to not think you were trying to kill me."

"While all of that is true it does not necessary mean that I came here to kill you. I actually had no idea you were here or even who you were until I saw you from above."

Herod made to move towards Uryu before Whitemane stopped him by holding her staff in front of his chest. With a look of disgust she asked, "Humor me. What were you doing here then?"

Silently hoping his gamble was working, Uryu continued, "While traveling west of here several men and women, in the same outfits as you, tried to ambush and kill me without provocation. I dispatched them non-lethally and decided to find where they came from, leading me to you."

"So you are here for revenge then?" Herod concluded, "I shall not let you have the high inquisitor! Men capture him!"

Uryu stood still and scanned the crusaders as they surrounded him. As soon as Herod gave the order, they all shouted and charged at him, weapons drawn and spells ready. Spinning around on his foot, he summoned his Ginrei Kojaku and proceeded to fire an arrow at each and every crusader in the room apart from Herod and Whitemane, who decided to stand back out of harms way. The crusaders he hit stayed standing for a moment longer before collapsing into unmoving heaps on the ground. Watching Whitemane's face light up in horror and Herod step back nervously, Uryu felt the need to alleviate their fears.

"You do not need to worry about your men. I only put enough spiritual energy in my arrows to knock them unconscious. Except for a nasty bruise from where I hit them they will wake up perfectly safe without any lasting damage to their bodies. Can you explain why you are trying to kill me now that I've hopefully shown that I am not here to kill you?"

Whitemane and Herod exchange glances before a bright light shone from her staff. Looking around, Uryu saw that the minor bruises on the crusaders he hit were healing before his eyes. Once they were healed and the light died from her staff, Whitemane turned back to Uryu and said, "It is a most simple answer to your inquiry. You are tainted with the plague."

"I beg your pardon, what plague?"

At Uryu's simple question Whitemane's face scrunched up in disdain, "Are you mocking me? Do you not know of the plague of the undeath?"

"I obviously don't," Uryu quickly responded.

Whitemane watched Herod carefully make his way over to his downed men. Once he was sure Uryu was not going to attack him, he grabbed two of them and started to drag them away. Once he was gone she sighed in annoyance and started to explain, "The plague was first released during the Third War. When it first hit we all assumed it was just another sickness, that our priests and healers would be able to cure it or at least stop it from spreading."

"But you were wrong, weren't you?"

Whitemane's eyes drifted to the side as she nodded at Uryu's question, "We were easily able to stop its spread from person to person but we were too late to stop the infected grain from reaching its victims."

"The virus or bacterium that caused it must have been especially virulent if it was able to be spread through so many methods," Uryu thought out loud, "There are not many diseases that can be spread through direct bodily contact as well as through consumption."

"That was not the worst part. Those that fell ill to the plague developed purple sores, a persistent bloody cough and eventually become delusional and erratic. We thought it was a blessing when the first of the victims started to die."

"What happened after they died?"

A cold chuckle escaped Whitemane's throat, "They came back."

Uryu wanted to say that it was impossible for a dead body to come back to life. His scientific and medical mind almost required it but the experiences in Soul Society, against the Bounts, and recently fighting the arrancar caused him to at least acknowledge the notion that the dead might come back. What he saw in the land surrounding the monastery was more than enough proof.

"They rose from their deathbeds and out of their graves and started attacking the living. Everyone that they killed eventually rose back up as one of them. We had some initial victories in the beginning but eventually they overwhelmed us. By the time the infected grain was found and stopped, the plague was already beyond control. It was in the food, the water, and even in the very land itself!"

Something about what she said intrigued Uryu, "Why aren't you infected?"

Whitemane blinked, "What?"

Uryu explained, "You said the plague could survive in the environment. Surely your exposure, over mostly likely many years, should have infected everyone in this place."

"Our unwavering and fervent belief in the Holy Light as well as being paladins and priests makes us unable to be infected by the plague. That is why we kill everyone and anyone who we come across. They are unknowingly carrying the taint in their bodies. Sure they might say they are healthy and might be healthy for days or even weeks but eventually they will quickly succumb to the plague and start spreading it from wherever they are. It is a blessing to be killed by us while you still have control over your thoughts and body."

"You seem utterly convinced by your story and the simple fact that you aren't a zombie supports your claim." At this Uryu used two fingers to adjust his glasses, "However there is a big problem with your story."

Whitemane jeered at Uryu, "Oh? Pray tell, what did I miss?"

"It is rather simple. You work under the belief that you and everybody in this monastery are the only religious people in the world. If this Holy Light of yours is as popular as you make it seem there would have to be other churches or places of worship around the world. If that is the case they there should dozens if not hundreds of priests and paladins out there that are immune as well. If what you are saying is true, then you have been willingly killing innocent people that are not even tainted."

Whitemane tried to argue with Uryu but only silence left her mouth. Everything he said made sense. The rational part of her brain kept telling her that she has been a willing proponent of torturing and murdering innocent people for years while another voice was telling her to strike down the heathen blasphemer standing in front of her for daring to speak out against her. Eventually she could not hold it in anymore and released all her frustration at once.

"No!" Whitemane shouted, "We are doing the work of the righteous in order to cleanse our ancestral lands of the taint of undeath. I will not allow our children to grow up not knowing where their parents lived without associating it with the living dead! I have had enough of you! Kill him Herod!"

Uryu turned around surprised as a shadow loomed over him. Quickly moving his hand to his back and removing one of his Seele Schneiders, he swung and parried the downward slash of Herod's axe. While he may have stopped the attack itself, the force behind it was great enough to crack the stone floor beneath Uryu's feet.

"_What strength!" _he thought as he managed to briefly push Herod back before engaging him with a series of sword strikes, _"His strength is enormous. While it is nowhere near the strength Ichigo possesses, if he manages to catch me off guard it will do serious damage."_

After Uryu managed to parry and block his attacks, Herod decided to take a few steps back and readjust his strategy. Uryu, seeing his opponent hesitate, decided to take the time to do the same thing.

"_The size of this building along with his unusual speed makes it unwise to use Ginrei Kojaku. Even if I could, that woman would just heal his wounds. In the end this battle would become one of attrition."_

Seeing Uryu standing around, Herod shouted, "You are good but you will still fall to me! Blades of Light!" and ran at Uryu. Several meters away he pivoted on his left foot and began spinning rapidly around, making his attack pattern unpredictable.

Seeing the danger in the attack Uryu moved his Seele Schneider vertically to the ground just as Herod reached him. Even though he was prepared for the attack, the force behind the strike rocketed him across the cathedral into one of the stone columns supporting the roof, greatly damaging it.

In the cloud of dust that his impact caused Uryu coughed in pain, _"Damn it! I didn't think he could put that much strength into such a wild attack like that. I grossly miscalculated how strong he was and I paid the price for it. I let my pride get the better of my intellect."_

Groaning as he pulled his body out of the rubble, Uryu stood back on his feet. Stumbling the first few steps he quickly recovered and broke into a sprint toward Herod. Herod growled and charged at Uryu in return.

"Light, give me strength!" he howled as his axe and Uryu's Seele Schneider collided, sending sparks flying into the air. After a moment, the impact between the weapons caused an explosion of dust, sound, and wind to reverberate through the building. Whitemane was forced to cover her eyes with her hand, unable to stand the dust flying towards her. After the explosion died down and she was able to see again, she squinted through the cloud of dust and was only able to see Herod and Uryu standing away from each other with their backs facing each other.

Uryu grimaced as a trickle of blood streamed down his chest from the long shallow wound on his shoulder, _"Still not good enough."_ Turning around he saw Herod stagger before coughing out some blood and grabbing the side of his stomach, blood pooling out from between his fingers.

"Herod!" Whitemane shouted as she ran over to him, her hands glowing with a familiar white light. Reaching him, she kneeled down beside him and pressed her hands against his wound and said, "**Greater Heal!"**

As his wounds were healing, Herod panted and turned to Uryu, "How…were you able…to take my attack…and come out with only…a small wound?"

Uryu grimaced as he tested his shoulder out, "Before I came here my father thought it wound be best to teach me a few abilities that he felt my grandfather forgot to teach me. He was right, unfortunately, but my disdain for the man caused me to leave only after learning a couple of techniques. One of them was what allowed me to survive your attack."

His wounds healing and in considerably less pain than after the exchange Herod asked, "What kind of ability? It did not resemble any type of magic that I have seen before."

Groaning and standing back on his feet, Uryu explained, "In its initial language it is called **Blut Vene**. I condense and run my spiritual energy through the veins in my body in order to increase my defense drastically. However, it is far from perfect as shown by your ability to cut through it with your attack. If you had managed to land a direct hit on my head or neck I would have been gravely injured or possibly even dead."

Whitemane stood up panted slightly as she finished healing Herod. She would never say it but she was grateful that Uryu was not actively trying to kill the both of them. If he were she would never have been able to run up to Herod without being killed in the process. Her job done, she quickly backed off again to observe the fight.

"_This boy is a complete conundrum. I can feel that he has enough power in his body to easily kill both Herod and myself without trouble and yet it is almost like he is holding back, unwilling to kill us. That ability of his is also astonishing. To be able to increase your defense to the point of blocking a blade barehanded is phenomenal. Who is he?"_

Fully healed and eager for payback, Herod took a heavy step toward Uryu, "You are good kid, probably the best I've ever fought. I'm sure that if the high inquisitor hadn't interfered I would have lost and probably died. Now then, it is time for you-"

Before he could finish his thought the wooden doors at the entrance to the cathedral flung open. Both Uryu and Herod turned to see what happened when the figure standing at the entrance let loose a hail of arrows that, strangely, entirely missed Uryu.

Whitemane sensed the danger emanating from the figure as soon as the doors opened and slid in front of Herod. Before the arrows were even fired she slammed the end of her staff down onto the granite floor and shouted, "**Power Word: Barrier!**" Immediately a large and translucent dome of yellow light surrounded the two of them, protecting them from the arrows that bounced off the dome or shattered upon impact.

Before Uryu could figure out what was going on, the figure called to him, "What are you waiting for? She will have to keep the spell going for another ten seconds before either of them will be able to leave. We need to go!"

Uryu was about to argue before he decided against it. As he ran out after his ally, he turned back to Whitemane and said, "There is a quote from back where I come from. It goes something like, 'The first sign of corruption is that the end justifies the means.'" With that said he ran down the steps after his ally, leaving Herod and Whitemane alone in the cathedral as her barrier dropped.

"Should we pursue him?" Herod asked her.

"For now let's not," Whitemane decided, "The odds of him being able to leave this monastery, filled with hundreds of our fellow crusaders, are practically zero. As I speak there are dozens of hardened crusaders patrolling in the courtyard outside ready to cut him down. Now Herod, allow me to tend to the rest of your wounded men."

* * *

...

* * *

Uryu bound down the stone steps outside the cathedral three at a time. Coming to a stop at the bottom he glanced around for his ally, whoever they were. While he might not be able to find her he was able to see plenty of evidence showing she had been there and it was enough to make him grimace in disgust.

Dozens of bodies lay still on the ground, each of them a scarlet crusader that had been felled by arrows to various points in their bodies. Walking by one body slumped against the large fountain in the center of the courtyard he realized that whoever did this was extremely talented. Each of the arrows in its throat was grouped together within an inch of each other, something that he would find slightly difficult to do on a moving target.

A familiar whistling in the air caused him to instinctively duck and take cover behind a low wall. After several arrows passed near where his head had been, Uryu heard a gurgle as something heavy dropped to the ground. Following the trajectory of the arrows he saw a crusader desperately clutching at the arrows lodged in his throat with both hands before falling to his knees and then ont the ground unmoving.

He only began to suspect who could have done that when a familiar voice called out to him, "For someone who has managed to survive for so long in here you really don't pay attention to your surroundings."

The woman stepped out of the shadows from a nearby building, the shadows seemingly peeling off her body. At first glance she looked like any other person but upon closer inspection he saw that there were major differences in her physical characteristics that made her stand out from humans. The large pointed ears tapering to about a foot above her blonde hair were the first things that his eyes drifted to. Once he moved from her ears, Uryu saw her glowing blue eyes. Looking at them, Uryu couldn't help but try to come up with a logical explanation for what could make someone's delicate eyes glow without rendering him or her blind in the process.

Getting to his feet, he brushed some dust off his clothes, "You could have simply told me to move."

"I would have but I needed to see if your reflexes were sharp and you did not disappoint. I don't remember the last time someone managed to dodge one of my arrows let alone four," the high elf smirked and lowered her bow to her side as she walked towards Uryu, who did not lower his guard or put away the Seele Schneider held firmly in his left hand. The woman sensed his suspicion as her eyes drifted to the spiritual blade.

"You do not need to worry about me backstabbing you for now. If either one of us kills the other it would make escape from this place nearly impossible so let's temporarily agree to help each other get out of this monastery before we kill each other."

Uryu stared at the elf for another moment for he stopped running his spiritual energy through the weapon, causing the blade to quickly disappear. When the woman saw that, her eyes widened in astonishment.

"That is an interesting blade you have there. I can only remember a couple of another pure energy blades and none of them felt as powerful or solid as yours does. I take it you are competent in wielding it?"

Uryu grumbled as he put it away, "While I am capable of using it, I rather prefer using bows."

"The same for me," she agreed.

Before any more could be said, a loud bang echoed through the courtyard. Looking for the source, Uryu saw that the only other way into the courtyard was locked with someone on the other side trying to break in. "Perhaps we can put this conversation on hold until we escape from this place," he suggested.

"Oh?" she slyly asked, "You, the person that made every crusader at this monastery froth at the mouth with rage, cannot deal with only a few dozen scarlet morons out for your blood? And to think I thought you were actually good."

"I can," he smugly responded, "But I wouldn't want to risk a delicate woman such as you getting hurt when I have to save you."

"So smart ass," she jokingly argued, "What do you suggest to get a delicate little thing like me out of here?"

Uryu glanced around quickly before looking up, "We can always use the rooftops. It's how I managed to sneak in here in the first place."

Pushing by Uryu the woman smirked and crouched before easily jumping the thirty feet from the ground onto the roof. Once she landed she turned and looked down to Uryu, who didn't see all that impressed at what she just did.

"Now that I'm up here do you want me to fetch you a rope or ladder?" she taunted.

"How amusing," Uryu droned, "Just stand back and watch."

She watched in awe as a soft blue glow emanated from Uryu's feet before he pushed off with one leg and jumped onto the roof next to her, "That is an interesting ability. I don't believe I have ever seen anything like it. Tell me, what do you call it?"

"You have your secrets and I have mine."

Glancing around and seeing that they were the only ones on the roof for the moment, Uryu turned back to her, "By the way, I don't recall you giving me your name."

Without missing a beat she brushed some hair out of her eyes and responded, "That's because I never gave it to you."

Looking around, Uryu stood up and started to walk back towards where he first jumped up, "We should get going. They managed to get to me on the rooftops earlier and I don't doubt they are going to try again. Do you have a plan for once we leave?"

"As a matter of fact I do but first let's get out of here," she suggested and took off in a run.

Uryu groaned in frustration and ran off after her. After about a minute of running, jumping and climbing over the rooftops several loud and directed shouts caused him to turn to the right. Coming out of a propped up trapdoor on the roof were several crusaders, all the archers with arrows already notched in their bows. Quickly glancing as his ally, who seemed to have noticed them about the same time he did and was just about to shoot her own arrows at them, he summoned his Ginrei Kojaku.

The crusaders seemed to take that as a sign to fire on him first. Ducking and sliding under the arrows he fired off around a dozen shots within a second, all of them either knocking the crusader out or destroying their weapon. With the last crusader neutralized, he stood up and turned to his ally only to see her acting a little oddly. Upon closer inspection he saw that she was staring at his Ginrei Kojaku with a look of hidden disgust and revulsion on her face.

"Is there a problem?"

Moving her eyes away from his bow, she turned and walked away, "Nothing's wrong. I was just mildly surprised when you brought out your weapon."

Uryu released a deep breath of frustration as he dismissed his bow and followed her over to the edge of the roof, "This is not where I came up."

"They will be covering all the easy to reach ways into the monastery and your point of entry was right next to the front door."

Peering over the edge, Uryu saw that it was roughly a sixty-foot drop to the forest floor. Seeing his hesitation, she chuckled and patted him on the back, "What's the matter? It's only a small jump."

Sputtering and adjusting his glasses, he quickly composed himself and waved forward with his hand, "Ladies first."

Scoffing she jumped down after sarcastically saying, "What a gentleman."

Uryu took one last look around the rooftops before jumping down after her. Ever since he was 'rescued' by this woman many more questions had been raised than answered. The first chance he gets he is going to find out what the hell was going on in the world.

* * *

...

* * *

Whitemane grimaced as she carefully made her way into the courtyard full of dozens of scarlet crusader bodies. Once her barrier had dropped and his men were safe Herod had barreled out of the cathedral after Uryu only to find the scene in front of her. Watching her fellow crusaders carry out the bodies of their fallen brethren she sighed and said to herself, "How can one man cause so much death and destruction in only a few minutes? We didn't even hear them scream."

"I don't think it was the intruder you believe it was Whitemane."

Perking up at the familiar voice Whitemane turned around to see Arcanist Doan shambling towards her. The keeper of knowledge of the monastery and accomplished arcane mage looked worried about something if the heavy tome held under his arm was any indication, "Doan? I take it you have some good news for me? Light knows I need some now."

"In a second," he said hurriedly, "First things first, I do believe that the perpetrator of this atrocity was not the man you fought. Before dying of their wounds a couple of crusaders said an elf with unholy archery skills strolled through the monastery killing all that she came across. They said when they tried to retaliate it was like trying to hit a shadow."

Whitemane paled at the description of the second intruder. She was so shaken that she would have collapsed to her knees if she were not already leaning on her staff for support, "Was it _her_?"

Doan shook his head, "We are not sure who or what she was. The description of the second intruder only says it was a high elf with blonde hair and above average height. There was, however, one piece of evidence that I was barely able to detect."

"What was it?"

"It was mana residue from an enchanted object. Whenever someone enchanters an object using mana they leave a tiny residue or signature behind. An experienced mage or even warlock can pick up on a signature for a short time after the object has left and be able to tell what the type of enchantment was on it."

"And you were able to find out?"

Doan nervously responded, "Just barely. Whoever came here was under an extremely powerful illusion enchantment. The signature suggests it is so powerful that if you had whoever was here stand next to a real high elf you wouldn't be able to say which was the fake."

"This is troubling and I don't think she was here for us."

"What do you mean?" Doran asked.

"In the cathedral I at first assumed she was an ally of the boy I was fighting but when I saw his reaction I knew I was wrong. He had no idea who she was or why she was there."

"If he wasn't expecting her," Doran asked, "Then why was she here?"

* * *

...

* * *

Uryu jumped over a fallen tree and picked up his pace as he watched his ally pull ahead of him while jumping from branch to branch in the trees above him.

"_Showoff."_

Exiting out of the forest and skidding down an embankment Uryu walked forward toward his ally, who was standing on top of a rock and staring at a large ruined castle to the south.

Climbing up next to her he asked, "What is that place?"

With almost a melancholy tone in her voice she responded, "It was once the capital of Lordearon, the seat of power for one of the most powerful human kingdoms in all of Azeroth. Now is it known as the Undercity, a bastion for the freed undead who hold an undying hatred for the living. We must be careful when moving this close to the city. The surrounding area is full of those that would report to their dark mistress."

Raising his voice for the first time since arriving on Azeroth Uryu grabbed her arm, "Hold on just a minute! Since arriving here I've been under almost constant attack. Before I go anywhere with you I want some answers."

She coldly turned to him and Uryu was almost tempted to let go of her arm, "Very well. Ask your questions but make them quick."

Uryu gestured with his arm back towards the monastery, "Who were those people and what the hell was wrong with them?"

"They are known as the Scarlet Crusade and if Whitemane was as talkative as ever she probably told you all about the plague and why they do what they do." When she saw Uryu nod in agreement she scoffed and spit on the ground, "Do not for a second belief the drivel that spews out of her mouth! The scarlet crusade is a group of fanatical murderers who believe that anyone that doesn't agree with them are tainted by the plague and need to be 'cleansed,' which really means killed."

"Where are we going?"

"The undead that live in the Undercity have a barricade to the east, a bulwark if you will, against the feral undead roaming freely in the plaguelands. Our goal is to reach the Alliance base Chillwind Camp on the other side of the bulwark. We will need to blitz the barricade in order to limit the response the forsaken can have. With our ability to attack from a distance we can easily disable most of their defenses before they can retaliate, allowing us to pass with ease."

Uryu looked at her intently for a moment before relaxing, "Let's just get one thing straight. I don't trust you. You're appearance in the monastery was too coincidental to be an accident."

The elf smiled as she held the purple and yellow orb dangling from her necklace, "Paranoia doesn't suit you. However if it makes you feel any better I will not betray you. I find you too interesting to risk dying."

"I do not trust someone whose name I do not know."

"Then let the following be considered a sign of good faith," she said as she extended her hand to Uryu, "I am Lindsay Ravensun and it will be a pleasure to travel with you."

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**Well, there weren't any original characters introduced in this chapter and that makes my life easier since I don't have to remember any new characters. If you want to visualize what Lindsay Ravensun is wearing and wielding it is the Hunter Tier 6: Gronnstalker's Armor and she is using the Black Bow of the Betrayer, both of which are the best armor and weapons available during The Burning Crusade time period, which this story starts in.**

**On another note, I did decide to put in some of the new Quincy abilities into the story. While they are currently overpowered in the manga I tried my best to make them more equal in strength to other Bleach abilities. We will see what happens with them.**

**Abilities Used**

**Greater Heal: **Slow but highly efficient priest healing spell that that fix all but the most lethal of injuries

**Power Word: Barrier: **Prevents all damage to those inside the barrier but leaves them unable to attack or leave the barrier for up to twenty seconds

**Blut Vene: **Blood Vein or Stilled Blood Guise. Increased the defense of the Quincy

Tell your friends about this story. Read and Review.

~Bahamut_Reishiki


	10. Chapter 10: Ichigo I

**I do not own the characters, ideas, and/or places from either Bleach or World of Warcraft and their respective universes. Tite Kubo and Blizzard® own them respectively. Any original characters in the story belong to me. Any comparisons to other fan fiction or series characters are entirely coincidental and not intentional.**

Hello - Normal Speech

_Hello_ - Thoughts

**Hello** - Demons / Titans/ Inner Hollow/ Dragons / Arrancar Released Form

_**Hello**_ – Thoughts of Demons / Titans/ Inner Hollow/ Dragons / Arrancar Released Form

**I love reviews. To see that someone took the time to log in (or not) and criticize my work is fantastic. I don't care if the review is positive or negative as long as they give good reasons for their response I'm happy. I have gotten reviews that pointed out plot holes, questions I didn't answer, or simply things that I forgot.**

**PM or say in a review whether you prefer this method: One character per chapter or my earlier method. Depending on what is said I will go back and add material to the earlier sections (Chapters 9 – 11) in order to make them full-blown chapters.**

**AUTHOR NOTE #1: **Please note that this chapter contains the sections involving Ichigo from Chapters 9 and 11. While at first glance it may seem as if I simply copied and pasted them here as a chapter I have added much to the sections as well as introduced new dialogue and sequences. I am doing this in order to advance the story without jumping around and potentially forgetting to write key points or plots that would help to tie everything together.

**AUTHOR NOTE #2: **Do not take this chapter as a sign that I am just going to redo Chapters 9-11 into full chapters. While I will delete those chapters one I have written full-length chapters I will make sure to include a lot of new material in each of them so that they are worth reading again.

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**Secret of the Dragonflights Arc**

**Chapter 10: Ichigo's Dramatic Escape from Darkshire**

Ichigo glanced at the sky as a fork of lightning illuminated the surrounding forest. Quickening his pace as a cold wind picking up, he was determined to find shelter before the storm hit.

Quite a bit of time had passed since his fight with that strange woman and her partner and Ichigo had no idea who they were. He decided to put that on the backburner when he saw a faded sign on the side of the road that read 'Darkshire.' Silently hoping this place wasn't deserted as well he picked up his pace.

As he entered the town he noticed something strange. While there were people walking on the streets and talking with each other the overall atmosphere of the town was one of nervousness and fear. _"Something has these people scared out of their minds. I didn't notice anything that bad on my way here so what could it be?"_ Determined to get some answers, he walked towards a man sweeping outside a building.

"Hey."

The man looked around nervously before seeing Ichigo walking to him, "Yes?"

"Mind telling me what the hell's wrong with these people?" he asked as he gestured over his shoulder to the town.

"You must be new here if you don't know what's going on. This is Darkshire where people go missing from their beds in the middle of the night. A man and his wife can go to sleep and only the wife would be left when dawn arrives."

"And no one tried getting help?"

"We have tried. Several times, in fact," the man sighed and looked into the forest, "No one that we sent for help has ever returned. Not a single one. Eventually we gave up trying to find help and decided to let the adventurers and mercenaries deal with the problem."

A howl in the distance caused the man to jump, "Listen, I can't stay out here any longer. If you want more information go to the Darkshire inn at the end of this road. Someone there might be able to help you."

Ichigo watched the man race inside the building before turning and walking towards the inn, _"What he said sounds a lot like that diary I found earlier with people disappearing for no reason. I wonder if it started here or is spreading?"_

Reaching the inn as the rain started to fall, he pushed the door open and took a quick glance around. The whole first floor was functioning as a pub and was full of human-like people dressed in various robes, leather, and steel and all of which had various weapons lying on the ground or against a wall next to them.

He shut his eyes as he tried to face the reality of his situation. _"Just count to ten Ichigo. When you open your eyes, you will be back in Hueco Mundo. You will not be standing in a Dungeons and Dragons world."_

Opening his eyes and seeing that he was still there, he sighed and made his way to a table near a corner and sat down, leaning Zangetsu against the wall. Groaning as he stretched his muscles, he propped his chin on his hand and looked through the nearby window as storm finally hit.

"_What the hell is going on? I remember fighting an arrancar and using that cube Hat-n-Clogs gave me to try to stop his attack. But instead I somehow got dropped off in this backwards world filled with magic and other things."_ As he put his thoughts together, something clicked in his mind.

"_It must have been a portal or something. That could mean that I'm not the only one who made it through to this place. Ok, so my next step is to find everyone else. The only problem is I have no damn clue where to start looking."_

As Ichigo thought about his predicament and how he was going to get home, he was brought out of his thoughts by a light feminine cough. He turned his eyes away from the rain-covered window to the barmaid, who was standing by his table with a look on her face that suggested she had been standing there for far too long.

Looking back out the window Ichigo muttered a quick, "What?"

The woman's face gave a slight twitch as she brushed down her apron in frustration. Calming down and clearing her throat she asked him, "Would you care for something to drink?"

"Who are you?"

"I'm the barmaid Mabel Solaj and, if you keep up this attitude, the woman who will throw you out into the rain."

With a bead of nervous sweat trickling down his face, Ichigo quickly said, "I'll be glad to have something. What do you have?"

"We have a few kegs of Pinot Noir, Thunder Ale and Rhapsody Malt. We also have a few bottles of Junglevine Wine that some traders 'left' with us when they forgot to pay for their rooms. However…" she trailed off as she stared at Ichigo, "you see far too young to be able to drink. All I've got for kids is some Melon Juice."

Ichigo blinked in confusion as the choices were given, _"I don't recognize any of that. Sure some of the words are familiar but I never heard of brands like that."_

"I need to think about it," he said as he waved Mabel away, "Come back in a little while."

Mabel sputtered indignantly, "Are you serious? As you can plainly see the inn is packed. If you aren't going to order anything now then I'm not going to come back."

"Well go then," Ichigo said as a familiar scowl appeared.

Mabel huffed and gave Ichigo a dirty look before hurrying over to another table at the far end of the inn, clearly passing several tables of men and women calling out for her. Turning back to the window and his thoughts, a minute didn't pass before loud and boisterous laughter echoed over from the table behind him. Turning around, he saw two dwarves with match red beards drinking and laughing.

The one closest to him noticed Ichigo looking at him and gave him a hard pat on the back, "Nice job kid. I haven't seen someone fluster or frustrate Mabel that much since that night elf. What was her name again Gogan?"

The other dwarf quickly finished drinking from his pint and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. He leaned back against his chair as he answered, "It was Villina…no wait, it was Vylina…crap, what was it again? Oh right! It was Vilyna."

"Thanks Gogan. So Vilyna pranced up to Mabel at the bar and starts lecturing her about how alcohol is bad and she should ban it in her inn. Myself, I don't have a problem with the occasional drink as long as it doesn't interfere with your job, but Vilyna had to say that we should never drink."

"She was one hell of an uptight bitch Hoiran," Gogan mumbled.

"True Gogan, but the best part happened after Mabel had to listen to her talk and talk for over an hour. It was hilarious watching Mabel slowly but surely reach her tipping point."

As Hoiran went on with his story, Ichigo found himself starting to relax for the first time since he arrived. Aside from the fact that he could understand perfectly everyone around him even though that shouldn't be remotely possible, it seemed as if he finally had a moments rest.

"…And then Mabel picked up Vilyna and threw her out the door into the street. The curses that spilled from that night elf's mouth made Gogan here almost blush in embarrassment. It was one of the funniest things I have seen in years!" Hoiran finished while laughing. After about a minute he calmed down enough to ask, "So what is your name kid?"

"Ichigo."

"That's one strange name. What are you doing in the Duskwoods? Don't you know how dangerous this place is?"

"I could ask you the same thing."

"It's simple. My brother and I arrived with one of the supply caravans about two years ago to try to deal with the supernatural forces plaguing this place," Hoiran explained with sarcasm near the end, "Our job entails fighting and killing every zombie, ghoul, abomination, worgen, ghost, skeleton, and ogre that we come across."

He scoffed at Hoiran's blasé description of his work, _"Nothing much my ass. There is no way he goes out and fights zombies."_ When he saw that Hoiran was expecting a reply, he said, "I'm actually lost. I literally took a wrong turn and somehow ended up in the forest west of here. I stumbled through the forest until I found a road and then followed it back here."

Hoiran coughed as he chocked on his drink. It got so bad that Ichigo had to turn around and slap his back a couple of times to clear his lungs. After a minute and several deep breaths he asked, "It's impossible for anyone to travel through the Duskwoods by themselves without being torn to shreds!"

Ichigo shrugged lazily, "It wasn't that bad. Sure there were a few giant spiders and wolves but besides those it was an easy walk."

Hoiran stared at Ichigo before he groaned and reached into the bag hanging from the back of his chair, "Damn my sense of morality. I won't be able to sleep tonight if I know a kid your age is travelling through the Duskwoods by themselves."

"What do you mean 'kid my age'?" Ichigo growled.

"Save the bravado for someone else kid. There are things roaming these woods that can break a man's mind and sanity to the point where you can only dream of death," Hoiran somberly explained as he gave Ichigo a map. Opening it up, he turned his head when he heard the dwarf get up and walk over to his table.

"We are right here," he said as he pointed to the map, "The farms of Westfall are to the west and Elwynn Forest is to the north. To the south is Stranglethorn but you would have to be crazy to go there without a guide or direction. No, the best way to get you out of here with your mind and body in one piece is to take the road north. It is the shortest way out of the Duskwoods and will bring you to Stormwind. Someone there will most likely be able to help you."

Rolling the map back up and tucking it into a pocket, Ichigo couldn't help but feel suspicious at the dwarf's generosity, "What's the catch?"

The dwarf took a long drink before he talked, "Over the years I've seen a lot of upstart adventurers your age that think they are invincible once they get a sword. They are always the first to die in battle. I guess I just don't want to see you fall the same way is all."

"Er…thanks, I guess. By the way, how-" Ichigo was cut off as several men in gray armor with swords and shields emblazoned with a lion stormed into the inn. The whole building fell silent as the man in front stepped forward and spoke with a deep and gravely voice.

"Listen up!" he shouted. Once he felt the entire bar grow silent he reached up and removed his helmet. Banging it against his leg to dry it he continued, "I am here on the orders of both Lord Fordragon as well as Lady Prestor to tell you that my men and I are to be stationed in Darkshire until our mission is complete. If you cooperate we will be gone as soon as possible."

Seething in rage, Mabel slammed the glass she was cleaning on the counter and stormed towards the captain, "Who the hell do you think you are to just storm into my inn and say what you just said? After Stormwind abandoned us you have no right to just come back and take over!"

"While we are regretful about your situation, we are here on business." The captain motioned with a hand to one of his soldiers, who let the large bag attached to his back fall to the floor, "We are here in search of a man who was last seen in the proximity of this town. While details about what he looks like and how he acts are sketchy, we do have a somewhat accurate picture of the man."

The captain gestured with his hand and the soldier stepped forward and gripped the edges of the large poster and pulled them taunt. Once Ichigo saw it, he gagged slightly and silently wished he were somewhere else at the moment. Drawn on the poster, with some exaggerations here and there, was a remarkably accurate picture of him, scowl and all. At the same time that he realized this, everyone else in the bar did as well. The captain noticed the stares and followed them to Ichigo, who was slowly moving his hand towards the hilt of Zangetsu on the wall behind him.

As his men drew their weapons and slowly circled around Ichigo, the captain said, "Just give up and come quietly boy. I promise if you do so no harm will befall you."

Ichigo's expression softened and for a moment is seemed like he was considering turning himself in. Sighing, he stood up and threw the table at the captain with enough force to knock him and the men around him out cold.

"You're out of your fucking mind if you think I'll just give up that easily."

* * *

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* * *

Katrana Prestor was walking through the Stormwind Royal Gardens when a drop of rain fell from the overcast sky and onto her forehead. Looking up with a sneer of disdain at the storm clouds, she quickly moved towards one of the pavilions in the garden and leaned with her back against one of the wooden posts. Closing her eyes to try and prevent the oncoming headache, she growled when she heard a familiar voice talk to her.

"**You took a bold risk moving so directly against that man. Don't you think the wanted posters were a bit much, even for you?"**

Goodbye headache. Hello migraine.

She scoffed and turned to the death knight, "You took quite a risk coming here Bloodhaze. Have your injuries addled your brain?"

Bloodhaze let the insult slide as he turned away from her and gazed toward the city of Stormwind in the distance, "**What is your end goal of this plan? I did not find that man to be such a threat but it seems that you saw something that you feel warrants such methods."**

"Are you forgetting what he did to your precious runeblade?"

"**True, he did shatter it but it was not the first time a runeblade has been destroyed."**

Katrana turned and walked away from Bloodhaze, her disdain for the man rising with each second, "You death knights have never understood just how intricate politics is. This man knows more about our plans than anyone should. If he manages to tell someone what he knows then questions will be asked and investigations will be raised. Sure I might survive such an event depending on who he tells and by carefully manipulating Bolvar as much as possibly but our plans might be delayed by up to a couple of weeks."

Bloodhaze reached out and picked a rose from one the bushes growing near the pavilion. After watching some water drip off the petals, he coldly crushed it in his hand, "**And whose fault is that? You cowardly fled the field of battle when you had the advantage. While he was definitely stronger than you, he had not knowledge of what you can do, of what you **_**are**_**. You could have easily shifted and crushed him."**

"And once again you are clearly showing just how smart you are," she retorted as she gazed out through the rain, "Our location was near the Twilight Grove which, since the mortals vanquished the satyr corrupting it, has been patrolled by the green dragonflight. If I had shifted to my true form they would have easily sensed it and investigated."

The death knight did not talk as his glowing blue eyes scanned the garden.

"By the way Bloodhaze," Katrana slowly said, a smile growing on her face, "Why are you here? By the cracks and dents in your armor you don't look too well. Is your master upset with your failure?"

"**You know exactly why I am in this state!" **he sharply responded, **"While my master may still dream he is starting to stir and he has found some things in Azeroth not to his liking. One of which is your incompetence."**

"My incompetence?" Katrana seethed, "Who was it that had their ass handed to them?"

"**I may have lost but it was YOU that allowed him to overhear us and get away. Thus, the blame falls squarely upon your shoulders," **he accused while pointed an armored finger at her.

"Why you-"

"**Listen well Prestor. When my master heard of your plan, he was intrigued enough to go along with it since you appeared to have everything in hand. You know what happens to those that fail him in life, both people and _dragons_. I'm sure you remember what happened to Sapphiron…"**

Katrana staggered away from Bloodhaze and turned her head in revulsion. Of course she knew who Sapphiron was, every dragon did. To be defeated by a mortal is one thing but to have your soul bound to your corpse and forced to do someone's bidding is another. Not even she would wish that on another dragon. When she looked back at Bloodhaze she was not surprised that he was no longer there.

"_I will kill you one of these days Bloodhaze. No matter whom I have to work with or what I have to do, I will not take such a threat standing down. I will end your unlife by my own hands or claws."_

She walked out of the pavilion and into the garden, uncaring of the pouring rain falling down on her.

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The inn grew silent in both shock and awe at what Ichigo just did. Gogan got up and walked over to a couple of downed soldiers before rummaging through their pockets. Hoiran simply stared before turning to Ichigo

"Skies above kid, who'd you piss off in Stormwind?"

"I don't know!" Ichigo shouted as he picked Zangetsu up and attempted to escape the inn. Reaching the front door, he came face to face with at least a dozen more soldiers standing miserably in the rain, who turned to see who was coming outside. Ichigo and the soldiers stared at each other for a moment before he stepped back inside and slammed the door shut in their faces.

Stepping away from the door and groans of pain as the soldiers tried to push open a door that swings outwards, he breathed a sigh of relief and took a minute to try and think of a way to escape.

A brief look around the first floor showed him just how limited his options were. The windows were out of the question. They were too small to fit through and even if he could the soldiers outside would spot him. The door behind the bar was another option but Mabel had locked it when he first threw the table so that was no good. As he saw the first soldiers regaining consciousness a whisper to his left drew his attention.

"You should head upstairs and find a place to hide before they get up," Hoiran whispered.

Ichigo muttered a quick, "Thanks Hoiran," as he ran to the stairs while kicking a few soldiers on the way for good measure. He reached the landing for the second floor as he heard the front door to the inn finally open and by the shouting going on downstairs, the new soldiers must be trying to rouse their unconscious comrades.

Ichigo cursed when he reached for the nearest door and found that it was locked. After quickly trying several more locked doors, Ichigo was getting frustrated and desperate, _"Come on, one of these rooms has to be empty. What are the chances they are all locked?"_

The sound of footsteps coming up the stairs forced Ichigo to throw caution to the wind and run to the furthest room from the stairs. Gripping the handle and twisting it, he found to his frustration that it was locked as well. Thoroughly fed up and not willing to be caught, he took a few steps back and kicked the door open. Quickly running inside the room, he turned around and tried to shut the door as best he could.

Pressing his back against the wood, he sighed and looked around the dark room. Moving cautiously to avoid making any excessive noises, he walked through the darkness towards the window. Grabbing the latch, he threw it open and was immediately pelted with sheets of rain and howling wind. Apparently the storm that started earlier in the evening had only gotten worse.

Sticking his head out the window, Ichigo noticed that there was an adjacent building to the inn with a roof only a foot or two away and a couple feet below the window ledge.

"At least there aren't any of those soldiers out there." Turning back to the now broken door to the room, Ichigo sighed as he heard the soldiers search for him room by room.

"What the fuck did I do to piss these guys off?"

Ignoring them, he stepped out onto the wet windowsill and was about to jump to the roof below when the door to the room opened, spilling the light from the hallway into the room. Moving quickly, Ichigo jumped out into the storm and easily landed on the flat roof just as the soldiers reached the window. As his foot touched the wet tiles, Ichigo started sprinting across the roof, narrowing his eyes to be able to see through the thick rain and darkness. About halfway across the roof, he turned around and saw one of the armored soldiers attempted to climb down to the roof with him.

"_Goddamn it. These guys just don't give up."_

Scoffing in disbelief Ichigo took off down the roof and jumped off the end across a gap between buildings. After clearing the seven-foot gap, he tucked into a roll and landed on the next house. Taking a moment to rest, he turned around and saw a couple of soldiers on the opposite side of the gap. He smirked at their reluctance to follow him.

"Not going to follow me anymore?"

The soldiers didn't respond as they turned around and ran back towards the inn. Standing up, careful to avoid slipping on the wet tiles, Ichigo walked to the edge of the roof before jumping off to the ground twenty feet below. Landing with a small grunt, he quickly looked around before running off in the direction leading away from the center of town.

"_I have to get out of this place before those soldiers catch up to me. It won't be long before the ones remaining outside find out I've escaped."_

Deep in his own thoughts and due to the howling wind, Ichigo barely heard the clamor of the horse-drawn wagon approaching him. Quickly jumping out of the way, he was surprised when a familiar body stood up over the side.

"Climb in before they see you!"

Taking his chances, Ichigo ran towards the wagon and grabbed Hoiran's hand. Once inside he looked around and noticed someone missing, "Where's Gogan?"

Hoiran sat down against the side of the wagon and shook some rain of his hair, "He's in front driving this thing. When it comes to escaping from dangerous situations, he is the one that can do it best."

"What are you both doing here anyway? Those soldiers are looking for me, not you."

"The situation became a lot more complicated after you ran away kid."

"What do you mean?"

Hoiran coughed, "After your little escapade upstairs the soldiers finally pooled their brains together and managed to open the inn door. While several immediately ran upstairs after you the rest spread out on the first floor to complete their other task."

With a feeling of dread in his stomach, Ichigo nervously asked, "What other task?"

"The arrest and death of everyone in the inn."

"What?"

"Keep it down!" Hoiran hoarsely whispered, "Gogan and I had that exact same reaction when their captain announced it. Apparently he felt it was in Stormwind's best interests to detain or kill anyone who might have associated with you, in fear of them either being under your control or carrying the plague of undeath."

"That's impossible."

Hoiran paused nervously a moment, "It's not as farfetched as you might think. During the Third War the undead _did_ use sleeper agents and innocents to spread the plague."

"If that's true how did you escape the soldiers?"

Hoiran chuckled, "Gogan here took up his empty pint glass and threw it at the captain, almost knocking him out again. With their captain dazed, the confused soldiers were no match for twenty drunk and angry men and women seeking to escape imprisonment. In that ensuing confusion, we managed to escape and grab this wagon. Before we left we saw Mabel come back out and pick up a fully armored soldier and chuck him out the window."

With all that said Ichigo was still confused about one thing, "Why did you stop for me?"

"It all deals with what this says," Hoiran answered gravely as he handed a damp poster to Ichigo. Taking it from the dwarf, Ichigo unraveled it and squinted to read the soggy text.

_WANTED ALIVE_

_Name: Unknown_

_Approximate Age: 15-18 years_

_Eye Color: Unknown_

_Hair Color: Orange/Red_

_Clothes: Black Robe with large sword_

_Charges: Colluding with a Death Knight, High Treason, Murder_

_Live Bounty: 700 Gold _

The wagon was silent for a few minutes apart from the falling rain and the horses pulling it. Eventually Ichigo was the first to break the silence, "Murder? I didn't kill anyone and what the hell is a Death Knight?"

"It's not surprising you don't know what a death knight is. They are nasty sons of bitches and those that have fought them don't really like to talk about them."

"Why the hell not?"

Gogan cut in for his brother here, "A death knight is someone, a paladin, warrior, mage or whatever, that sells their body and soul to the Lich King in exchange for power. Nasty bastards, the only way to _really_ take them down is to first shatter the runeblade they always carry and then kill them."

"And you think I'm one of these death knights?"

"Nah," Hoiran said with a wave of his hand, "I couldn't be convinced you were a death knight even if I was drunk off my ass."

"As for why we're helping you," Gogan interrupted, looking a lot more serious than the drunken dwarf Ichigo remembered, "There are two reasons. One, you look too young and…well…_alive_ to be a death knight. Second the timing of the guards appearance in Darkshire is too suspicious."

"What do you mean?"

Before Ichigo could answer, Hoiran reached into a chest in the wagon and pulled out two cloaks, one fit for a dwarf and the other for a human of Ichigo's stature.

"Put this on. It will keep you both dry and hidden from prying eyes."

Ichigo scoffed as he took the cloak and put it on, "This would have been a lot more helpful at the start."

"We had more important issues to deal with at the time, like escaping from those soldiers. Now as I was saying, the timing of your appearance and the arrival of those soldiers was too coincidental to be an accident."

"Now that you mention it," Ichigo said, "It was a little odd that they were looking for me so quickly after arriving. I've only been here for several hours."

"That makes this whole situation worse."

"Worse?"

"Worse," Hoiran nodded, "It takes at least two hours to travel to Stormwind at full gallop or one for a gryphon. If Stormwind acts as quickly as possible, another three hours to mount up and ride back down here."

"_Gryphon? Where the hell did I end up?" _It took Ichigo a moment to realize the problem, "So it would take at least five hours for them to get here but based on everyone's reactions to their presence back at the inn I can't see them coming for me right away."

Hoiran pointed a stubby finger at Ichigo, "Exactly kid. Someone knew you were coming and sent the soldiers down as soon as possible."

"_Someone knew I was here, but who?"_ Ichigo's eyes widened in realization, "That woman!"

"Woman?"

Ichigo slammed his fist against the side of the wagon, causing it to shake from the force, "I met a woman earlier. She was meeting with a strange man who sounded all weird."

"Did his voice echo and did his presence cause you to feel cold and depressed?" Hoiran asked nervously.

Ichigo scratched his face as he thought back to his encounter, "Well…he did sound kind of weird and give me a creepy feeling but other than that there was nothing strange about him."

"He must have been a death knight. Now, was there anything about the woman that struck you as odd or out of place?"

"Well…she had long black hair, cold blue eyes, and the empathy of a rock. When I fought her she fought dirty and cheated every chance she got. When I put up more of a fight than she expected she fled with the death knight."

"How did she attack you?"

"First she threw fire at me. When she fled she wrapped herself in this purple and black barrier of flames."

"Purple and black?" Hoiran asked gravely, "Are you absolutely sure?"

"Yes," Ichigo answered hesitantly.

Hoiran brought a hand to his face in order to try and relieve his growing headache, "This is a rather disturbing development. From my past experience fighting in the Burning Steppes, any time you fight someone that wields purple and black flames it is most likely a black dragon in disguise."

"A dragon?" Ichigo asked skeptically, "Are you fucking serious?"

"I most definitely am. A black dragon is one of the most vicious and conniving creatures on Azeorth. Fighting and surviving against one is considered a feat."

Ichigo took a second to process that before he asked, "What now?"

"We need to get to Stormwind as quickly as possible," Hoiran shouted at Gogan before turning back to Ichigo, "We'll be passing over the Elwynn River soon and should be in Stormwind before the morning. You should get some rest. Hopefully the rain will stop before we reach the city gates."

Ichigo nodded and leaned back against the side of the wagon and closed his eyes. He had not rested since arriving on this strange world and the exhaustion was finally starting to catch up to him. He didn't understand why he was a magnet for trouble. Honestly, who could expect to drop in another world right on top of a conspiracy like he did? He didn't tell Hoiran and his brother about it because, much as he trusts them, he didn't want to get them involved in his business. Opening his eyes one last time before nodding off, Ichigo could see a series of orange and yellow lights far in the distance to the north.

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**As I said in the beginning of this chapter, this is the combination of Ichigo's story from chapters 9 and 11. Since it started out as a merging of two already written segments I added a third one and rewrote a lot of the first segment (especially the first couple of paragraphs)**

Tell your friends about this story. Read and Review.

~Bahamut_Reishiki


	11. Chapter 11: Neliel I

**I do not own the characters, ideas, and/or places from either Bleach or World of Warcraft and their respective universes. Tite Kubo and Blizzard® own them respectively. Any original characters in the story belong to me. Any comparisons to other fan fiction or series characters are entirely coincidental and not intentional.**

Hello - Normal Speech

_Hello_ – Normal Thought

**Hello** – Spells Cast/ Demons / Titans/ Inner Hollow/ Dragons / Arrancar Released Form

_**Hello**_ – Thoughts of Demons / Titans/ Inner Hollow/ Dragons / Arrancar Released Form

**I love reviews. To see that someone took the time to log in (or not) and criticize my work is fantastic. I don't care if the review is positive or negative as long as they give good reasons for their response I'm happy. I have gotten reviews that pointed out plot holes, questions I didn't answer, or simply things that I forgot.**

**PM or say in a review whether you prefer this method: One character per chapter or my earlier method. Depending on what is said I will go back and add material to the earlier sections (Chapters 9 – 11) in order to make them full-blown chapters.**

**AUTHOR NOTE #1: **Only the first part of this chapter is from Chapter 10; everything else is brand new material with new characters and an actual movement of the plot!

**AUTHOR NOTE #2: **Do not take this chapter as a sign that I am just going to redo Chapters 9-11 into full chapters. While I will delete those chapters one I have written full-length chapters I will make sure to include a lot of new material in each of them so that they are worth reading again.

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**Secret of the Dragonflights Arc**

**Chapter 11: Neliel Meets the Scourge**

Brigitte Abbendis peered through around the tree she was standing behind at Uther Bridge, the only way across the Pestilent Scar for about a mile. Built decades ago as the main commercial passageway atop the lake that used to be here, it was now simply a reminder of better times and it made her growl in repressed anger. Calming herself, she turned back around and looked at Neliel who was simply sitting across the road from her staring into the sky.

"Are you daydreaming in a place like this?"

Neliel continued to stare into the sky for another second or two before she responded without turning her head, "I'm not daydreaming, I'm thinking."

Brigitte could only stare at Neliel with skepticism. There was no way the person she volunteered to follow and spy upon was this laid-back, "You're sitting around in the middle of the plaguelands thinking while there are literally hundreds of things out there that could tear us asunder with ease?"

"I'm just thinking about everything that has happened to be since I arrived here. First I landed rather harshly in this forest, then I met my first undead creature, after that I fought several of the scarlet crusaders you warned me about and finally I met you. There has just been so much happening to me in such a short amount of time that I need to sit down and sort it all out."

"Can't you do so later when we are in a safer place?"

Neliel turned her head until she made eye contact with Brigitte, who flinched at the harsh glare, "No I cannot."

Brigitte sighed in frustration as she took another look around. Seeing that they were still safe for the moment, she asked, "What are you going to do about your clothes?"

At this Neliel blinked in confusion as she looked at her outfit, "My clothes?"

"I mean all…that," she answered, gesturing with a hand to her white, form-fitting arrancar outfit. "By that blade you carry you are obviously a warrior but that outfit you have doesn't seem to give the best protection."

"I appreciate the sentiment but I don't need armor for protection. One of my…abilities…functions the same as armor."

Neliel paused as she reconsidered what she just said. Since arriving in this place, many of her abilities have felt off or stopped working correctly. She didn't want to get into a battle where she assumed her hierro would protect her from damage only to find the attack cleaved right through her arm.

"However…" she trailed off, regaining Brigitte's attention, "You do make some valid points concerning my defensive capacities."

Brigitte nodded before she started moving closer to the bridge, "The coast appears to be clear Neliel, let's move."

The two women quickly moved on the road leading to Uther Bridge. About half way to the bridge, Brigitte skidded to a stop and drew her sword and shield off her back.

"Prepare yourself Neliel, undead are on the way here as we speak."

"If they are coming here shouldn't we just keep moving?"

"You would think that," Brigitte said and shook her head, "But using the light I can sense that they have surrounded us on all sides. If we are going to make it to that bridge we will need to fight our way there."

Neliel reluctantly nodded and drew her zanpakuto from its' sheath, "How do you want to do this?"

"I would prefer to destroy every single undead that comes here but I must be realistic. Even the both of us couldn't deal with the hundreds of undead that are probably heading here based on the magnitude of the moans and roars. Kill only the ones you need to in order to escape across the bridge. Are you sure you'll be alright without armor?"

"I'll be fine," Neliel responded with a smirk, "I will have to be hit in order to get hurt."

Abbendis snorted as she braced herself, "Fine then."

"Just try and keep up."

The first ghoul that broke through the trees only had time to let out a moan before Neliel was on it. With a quick swing of her zanpakuto she beheaded it and cut the tree behind it in half, sending it crashing to the ground.

"_What the hell is she?"_ Brigitte thought as she parried a ghoul's claws with her shield and stabbed a second one in the throat with her sword. Backing up slightly, she gathered holy power in her left hand before releasing it towards the undead, "**Hammer of the Righteous!**"

The holy energy sped out from her hand and impacted against the ghouls, disintegrating the ones in front and severely burning the ones behind them.

"Interesting attack," Neliel shouted from several meters away as she continued to easily bisect and destroy ghouls and zombies with her zanpakuto, "A little slow to cast but its effectiveness cannot be questioned."

Scoffing at the compliment, Brigitte continued to backpedal toward the bridge while only destroying the undead that had the audacity to try and attack her. Even with both of them fighting as well as they were, she realized that the amount of undead coming out of the woods would soon start to overwhelm the two of them. If they were going to leave the plaguelands in one piece, they would have to go now.

"Neliel we need to retreat now while we have the offensive!" she shouted to her partner.

When she didn't get a response, she turned and saw that Neliel was not only still fighting at full capacity but that she was surrounded by dozens of fall undead. As she watched her, she observed Neliel swing her sword and bisect three ghouls in one motion without any indication of meeting the resistance that is flesh and bone. Shaking herself out of her amazement, she yelled, "We need to move now! Even you cannot hope to fight hundreds of undead at once!"

"What are you so worried about?" Neliel shouted back, "I'm doing fine and besides we are putting these people out of their misery so I feel we should stay."

Brigitte cursed and ran back to Neliel. Gripping her shoulder, she started to pull her toward the bridge, "It is not these fodder that I am talking about. We both could take them on with ease." She ducked and slashed a ghoul that tried to sneak up on her before continuing, "It is the mages, liches and banshees that I am concerned about. We need to leave before they show up, and they _will_ show up soon enough."

Neliel stared as the ghouls as she bit her bottom lip. After a moment she sighed and turned to follow Brigitte, "Alright you go on ahead first. I have a plan to slow them down enough for us to escape."

Abbendis reluctantly nodded and took off towards the bridge at a very fast speed. While many people assume correctly that armor is bulky and heavy and would make running nearly impossible, they forget to add magic into the equation. It is a very simply task for a mage or warlock to inscribe runes and sigils into armor in order to make them as light as clothes while still retaining their durability. With all these enchantments, she reached the other side of the bridge in no time at all and turned back around to see where Neliel was. What she saw almost made her drop her weapon in shock.

Standing about halfway across the bridge with her green hair waving in the wind and her arms folded across her chest was Neliel. Even though her back was facing her, Brigitte could see that she was patiently waiting for the dozens, no hundreds, of ghouls swarming towards her.

She watched as Neliel calmly raised her right foot to about knee height before slamming it down onto the stone bridge. Immediately upon impact a large tremor ripped through the bridge that almost knocked her off balance. Managing to keep herself upright, Brigitte could only watch as the entire far side of the bridge shattered and collapsed into the Pestilent Scar, taking the dozens of undead already on top of it with it and stranding the hundreds on the far side of the ravine.

Neliel stood on the edge of the remaining bridge silently for a moment before turning around and walking back toward her, "Shall we keep moving before they find another way across?"

Brigitte nodded dumbly before she collected herself and raced after Neliel. Easily catching up to her, she grabbed her arm to stop her; "We are not going anywhere until you explain what you just did?"

"What I just did?"

"Yes. While there exists spells and abilities to do what you did to that bridge, they all require long preparation times and complex runes or spell phrases. You did the equivalent by simply stomping your foot."

Neliel looked at Brigitte before sighing, "My…abilities are a little complicated to explain. If you plan on travelling with me I will tell you about them in time. For now though, let's just keep moving."

Nearly an hour passed as the two women trekked their way north along the road in silence, neither of them letting down their guard in suspicion of another attack by the undead. Eventually reaching a split in the road, Neliel turned and asked, "You said we were heading north?"

"I did." Abbendis responded.

"Where are we going?"

Abbendis sighed as she reached into a pack on her back and withdrew an old map, "We are heading north to Silvermoon City, capital of the blood elves. Those traitors to the Alliance have recently begun a massive recruitment drive from both the Alliance and the Horde in preparation for a major assault upon the troll city of Zul'Aman that lies to their south. The Amani trolls have recently begun a massive campaign against the blood elves and while I could personally not care less, if they succeed they will come after every other race afterwards."

Neliel nodded, "So what is our roll in this?"

"I thought it was fairly obvious from my explanation. Our purpose is to go to Silvermoon City and join up with the mercenaries there and then head to Zul'Aman."

"We're not going in the actual city itself?"

"Even the blood elves are not that naïve. They may need help from both the Alliance and the Horde for this but they are not stupid enough to allow everyone entry into their city. The path is to the north through the Elfgate at the head of Thalassian Pass. As one of the few places in the plaguelands that the undead do not control, it is a constant battleground between the scourge and the blood elves. If we can make it through the undead side, it will be pretty much an easy ride to Silvermoon."

"Great, Neliel said standing up.

"Hold on a second Neliel. There is something I want to ask you."

"What?"

"After seeing what you did back at the bridge I was wondering if you could somehow teach me your techniques."

Neliel stood silently looking into the distance before replying, "It is not that simple."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I mean that you will never be able to use my abilities in your current state," Neliel confessed.

"It can't be as bad as you say it is."

Neliel didn't respond to her question as she walked away, "We should head to Thalassian Pass."

Brigitte Abbendis sighed as she rolled up and put the map away. As Neliel started to walk away from her down the road, she left a note in one of the many hidden crusader stash boxes scattered throughout the plaguelands. The boxes, which are usually filled with missives, food, and maps of the latest scourge movements, are checked regularly. If she were lucky, one of the Stratholme patrols would find it soon and bring it back to Tyr's Hand as quickly as possible.

"_If everything goes according to plan Mataus will know about Neliel's abilities by tomorrow morning. I did not think that she would have such great skill with a blade or such monstrous strength. He and the others will need to start planning how to take her down as soon as possible."_

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The road leading to Thalassian Pass was strewn with bodies from both the Scourge attackers and the blood elf defenders. The once tranquil passageway to the blood elf home of Quel'Thalas was now more of a warzone full. Snarls and groans from the undead and explosion and bursts of light from blood elf mages and warlocks demonstrated just how intense the battle actually was. If the blood elves won the battle then guarded supply caravans could keep heading to Silvermoon. If the Scourge won then apart from small-scale mage portals Quel'Thalas would be cut off from her allies.

An exhausted blood elf mage gasped for breath as she looked over the downed tree she was crouching behind. When the battle started to intensify a couple of days ago due to excessive Scourge reinforcements, they started cutting down the trees near the pass as an extra line of defense. Gathering up her courage, she peered over the tree and thrust a glowing purple palm forward and shouted, "**Arcane Explosion!**"

A ghoul sprinting towards her looked down at its chest before a burst of arcane mana exploded outwards, disintegrating it and decimating the undead around it. After the spell was cast she fell to her knees, blood trickling out of her nose.

A blood knight saw what she did and vaulted over the tree to her side. "What the hell do you think you're doing Katryn? You may be in charge of the blood mages but you are exhausted and should not adjust spells like that. Next time it might just kill you."

Arcanist Katyrn, leader of the contingent of blood mages at Thalassian Pass, coughed out some blood and spit as she stood back up, "My apologies Master Elyrion. When I usually do that nothing goes wrong."

"When Lady Liadrin put me in command she forgot to warn me about your recklessness," Elyrion said amused. A sharp snapping sound drew his attention and with a quick burst of holy light the skeleton attempting to sneak attack the was disintegrated. "And save your apologies for when you make a mistake."

She nodded and downed a mana potion. While it would allow her to continue fighting and casting spells the effects would only be temporary and last at most ten minutes. Sighing as some of the fatigue left her body she created a ball of fire in her left hand and threw it over the tree. It exploded upon impact, immolating everything around it and creating a temporary barrier against the undead.

"Katryn, take your bloodmages to the western flank and have them concentrate their firepower there. That damned cult has started to reinforce the undead there and brought with them banshees and necromancers. We need your spells to keep them from-"

"Look out!"

The two turned at the shout to see a couple hooded cultists attempting to use exploding ghouls as a smokescreen while they charged the blood elf lines. Several farstriders hidden up on some still standing trees carefully notched arrows and aimed that at the cultists throats, bringing them down before they even got close to the line.

Elyrion narrowed his green eyes at how easily the cultists fell, "Something is wrong here."

Katryn fired a frostbolt at a group of zombies, "What now?"

"I have never seen the cultists act so rashly. They usually pester us from afar with spells while never putting themselves in danger. Seeing them charge us like that is rather disturbing." Running to the western barricade he ordered one of the farstriders, "You! Fire a shot at one of the cultist corpses."

The farstrider nodded and notched an arrow. Taking aim, the arrow glowed with a pale purple glow before sailing through the air into one of the corpses chest. Every blood elf in the vicinity stood watching the smoldering arrow for a few seconds before relaxing.

"Well Elyrion, I guess it was-"

Katryn didn't even have time to finish speaking before the corpse exploded with a burst of necromantic mana that consumed all life within a five-meter radius. The bubble of death magic expanded outwards before suddenly collapsing, sending a shockwave rippling outwards that knocked any blood elf and Scourge around it that was still standing onto their backs.

"By the Sunwell, that was not a cultist!" Elyrion gasped as he shakily stood back up. Looking around he saw while none of his men were dead several of them were injured, including a farstrider who was blown from the branch she was sitting on. Turning to where the corpse was, his eyes widened in disbelief when he saw bits of decaying flesh draped in tattered remains of the robes of the Cult of the Damned.

"Incoming!" one of the remaining farstriders shouted while firing several arrows into the trees. Elyrion looked out and saw that there were dozens of undead rushing towards them. Growling in anger, he cast **Hammer of the Righteous **several times only for the stricken undead to be quickly replaced. He was about to order a charge when he saw an abomination shambling towards them, crushing its allies underneath its feet.

"Katryn, have your mages focus on the abomination! Take it down!" he shouted.

With a sadistic smirk on her face, she clapped her hands together and slowly brought them apart as a large ball of fire condensed into existence between them, "You heard the elf men. Bring that thing down now! **Pyroblast!**"

As the now boulder-sized fireball left her hands, several shouts of **Arcane Barrage,** **Blast Wave**, and **Fire Blast **rang out as the abomination was pelted with several arcane and fire spells at once. As the smoke cleared, Katryn laughed in triumph as the abomination took a few more steps before crashing to the ground in a smoldering heap.

Elyrion grinned at the results and reached for the greatsword on his back. With the abomination dead, the undead would not be able to pose a problem. Just before he was able to rally the blood knights under his command a warrior ran towards him, "Master Elyrion, there's something you should see to the south!"

"What is it?"

The warrior shook his head, "It's something you need to see sir."

Seeing no alternative he said, "Shaydana you are in command until I return."

Once the blood knight saluted him, Elyrion turned from her and walked with the warrior to the southern line.

As they carefully made their way south behind the barriers the warrior started to explain, "We were keeping a close watch on the southern flank for Scourge reinforcements from Stratholme when the undead started to behave oddly."

"Oddly?"

"Yes. As we were fighting them just beyond the barricades when they suddenly started pulling back into the forests. After about a minute nine out of ten undead on the southern flank had disappeared."

"Hmm," Elyrion pondered, "Retreat is not something I've ever seen from the undead. Their dark master sees them as nothing more than cannon fodder to be used to slowly take us down. He would see no need for strategic retreat. No, there is something out there that has concerned the Scourge enough to pull back from attacking us in order to deal with it."

"What are your orders?"

"While this might be a cleverly disguised trap, we cannot take the chance it is. Lady Liadrin ordered us to protect the pass and did so under the assumption that we would be under massive assault by the Scourge the entire time. If we succeed at this gamble we might be able to merge the fronts together and cut off any attempts by the undead to divide us in two, allowing us to go on the offensive. Inform the men that we push south in five minutes,"

The warrior bowed and went to relay the order, "Yes Master Elyrion,"

Elyrion looked back over the suspiciously deserted ground in front of him, _"I can feel a massive source of mana out there but it feels likes nothing I've ever sensed before. What is going on?"_

* * *

_..._

* * *

A loud bang echoed through the Plaguelands as Brigitte Abbendis released several **Holy Shocks** in quick succession. Pushing her way through the opening she just made, she bashed a ghoul's head in with her shield and turned to Neliel, "Come on Neliel there are more of them coming!"

Neliel chanced a glance to Abbendis before she was forced to dodge an abomination's wild swing. As the axe crashed into the ground she pivoted on her foot and kicked it in the chin, causing it to let out a moan of pain as it fell on its back. Picking up the axe she flipped it in the air once before rearing her arm back and throwing it at another abomination, hitting it in the face with enough force to split its head in two.

Sprinting to catch up to Abbendis, Neliel found the paladin in combat with close to a dozen ghouls and skeletons and it appeared that she wasn't having any trouble. With a scream she stabbed her sword through a ghoul's throat, burning it from within due to the holy enchantment on the blade. She then swung her blade through the side of the ghoul and through the head of another one. Seeing Neliel approaching, she punched a zombie before running towards her, "Thank the Light you're alright. I have never seen the Scourge use so many abominations at once."

"Do you know where they are coming from?" Neliel asked.

"I told you earlier," Abbendis grunted as she blocked a skeleton's mace with her shield before smashing its head in, "These are all coming from Thalassian Pass. It is strange that they are heading away from the pass instead of towards it. It is almost as if something is drawing their attention and whatever it is it cannot be good. If this keeps up we'll be overwhelmed soon."

Neliel did not answer as drew her zanpakuto and lazily blocked a ghoul's claws. It snarled and growled at her as she threw a punch that blew its head off its body. While she did not say anything she had a vague assumption as to why they were being swarmed by the undead.

"_Somehow the undead are being drawn to my spiritual energy. I cannot risk Brigitte's life for something that I caused." _

"I have a plan Briggite."

"Great. What is it?"

Back to back with Abbendis, Neliel spoke, "We split up with one of us heading north and the other east before swinging north as well. If it works the undead should be split in two allowing us to get to Thalassian Pass without too much difficulty."

Abbendis turned around in shock, "Do you know how risky that plan is Neliel? We are barely holding them off together and you want us to separate?"

"Yes. As you said the undead will soon swarm us so if we want a chance to escape we should do it now before they get too numerous."

"_This is not good. I can't allow her out of my sight but if I don't go along with her plan neither of us will live to tomorrow."_ After a moment Abbendis sighed and said, "If we do this are you sure you'll be fine? As a paladin I have an edge over the undead."

Neliel let out a sad smile, "You know just how strong of a person I am Brigitte. You don't need to worry about me but I thank you for the concern."

Abbendis was about to respond when she recalled what Neliel did to Uther Bridge. With a hesitant nod she cut down a ghoul before breaking north, "Good luck Neliel and don't you dare die on me!"

Neliel watched Abbendis run north before she started heading east. She did not get far before she found her path blocked by hundreds of growling undead. Skidding to a stop, she turned her head around and saw that she was surrounded on all sides. As she stood there with the undead around her, she thought it was strange that they weren't trying to attack her. In fact they seemed to be trying to keep their distance from her.

"_What are they waiting for?"_she thought. Before she could think of an answer a cold mist crept into the air. Turning around to where it was coming from, Neliel saw that the undead in one section were parting and for good reason.

Drifting floating about a foot off the ground was a large skeletal figure in a glowing red and blue hooded robe and surrounded by ethereal chains. The lich moved towards her before stopped, the points of blue light functioning as its eyes focused on Neliel.

"And just who might you be?" Neliel asked calmly.

The lich remained floating silently for a moment before responding in a raspy female voice, **"I am known as Lady Deathwhisper, leader of the Cult of the Damned, and I am here to extend to you a rare offer. "**

"Oh?" Neliel asked, sheathing her zanpakuto and folding her hands behind her back.

"**Yes, my master has found himself greatly intrigued by the power you possess."**

"I don't know whether to be flattered or worried."

"**Do not toy with me!" **Deathwhisper hissed, **"I know for a fact that you are more intelligent than that. I am able to hear and see through these lesser, pitiful undead. Take my master's offer and see that your flesh holds you back. That it prevents you from reaching your full potential!"**

"What is this offer?"

"**Come and kneel before the Lich King and be reborn as a death knight the likes of which have never before been seen! Take his blessing and you will be able to show the world our master's power!"**

While Deathwhisper floated, awaiting Neliel's response, she was carefully observing every twitch of her muscles. She did not get to where she was by assuming everyone listened to her. As great as she was with her tongue there were always those that couldn't be convinced and with the abilities that her master has seen Neliel use she couldn't risk letting her guard down.

After a few minutes of Neliel standing there with her eyes closed Deathwhisper started to get impatient, **"Well? Have you come to a decision?"**

Instead of simply giving her an answer, Neliel opened her eyes and coldly smiled as a harsh violet light erupted from behind her back.

Even if she couldn't see the attack Lady Deathwhisper could feel the power radiating from it, **"What are you doing?"**

Neliel swung her right arm in front of her body and showed Deathwhisper the tiny sphere of violet spiritual energy hovering just off her finger, "I have to thank you, you know. If you didn't talk for as long as you did I would never have had the time to charge up this attack. You said that your master saw everything that I did since I arrived here but I'm fairly certain he has not seen this yet."

"**Wh-What is that?"**

"It's called a cero," Neliel calmly said as she looked over the ball of energy. "I find it very amusing that your master feels he can tempt me with more power. I have enough of it already. In fact I have too much of it. So I am afraid I will have to tragically decline your offer."

Deathwhisper was stunned. There was no way an orb of that size should contain so much power! She knew for a fact that she could not die from that attack since her phylactery was safely hidden in Icecrown Citadel but she did not know how long it would take her to return to a corporeal existence if she was hit by that attack. While stealthily creating a portal to get her away she gave Neliel one last threat, **"Can you grasp the futility of your actions? Those who oppose my master will be utterly destroyed and you will be no exception!"**

Neliel lowered her finger so it was pointing directly at Deathwhisper, the energy so strong that her glove and lower sleeve evaporated, "Lady Deathwhisper was it? It was a pleasure chatting with you. Goodbye."

Lady Deathwhisper barely had enough time after her portal formed to throw her body through it before a violet beam of energy shot forward from Neliel's finger towards her. Appearing in the familiar snow and ice of Icecrown she felt searing agony as her left arm and lower half of her skeletal body was obliterated by the cero. With the portal closed and in immense pain, she slowly moved up the saronite steps to Icecrown Citadel in order to both heal her body and inform her master of what happened.

* * *

...

* * *

Elyrion stood and watched the human running towards him with a mixture of mild disdain and curiosity

"What are your orders? Should we kill her?"

He ignored the blood knight's questions and kept his eyes focused on the human. Right away he could tell she was not a Scourge plot or trap, her behavior was too natural, too clean to be anything but genuine. What was interesting was that she was fleeing from the direction the undead had retreated to earlier, _"Perhaps she can help fill in what exactly happened."_

"Go out and safely bring her to me."

"But sir, she is a human. She could be an Alliance spy."

"What are you inferring?" Elyrion coldly asked, "Are you asking me to leave a potentially innocent human to be torn apart by the undead before being raised as one of them? If you are, you will find yourself on solo scouting missions for the foreseeable future."

He watched with mild amusement as the blood knight turned tail and fled. It bothered him that the majority of the younger blood elves held such a deep hatred for the Alliance. They focused on every fault of them while blindingly ignoring the many mistakes the Horde has made. He didn't need to wait long before he found the woman, a paladin by her armor, standing in front of him flanked on either side by a farstrider and blood knight.

"I do apologize for the extra security but with the constant Scourge attacks we can never be too careful with strangers."

Abbendis scoffed, "It is certainly quite an odd experience to be treated with hospitality by blood elves. I expected to be attacked before I even saw you."

"Just because we happen to be part of the Horde now doesn't mean we can't act civil to each other, does it?"

"I suppose you may have a point," she snorted. Taking a look around at the pass she asked, "What happened here? The last time I saw this place there were at least twice the people on guard here."

"It is a combination of a lack of manpower with an overabundance of undead. About a week ago the Scourge threw everything they had at us; abominations, banshees, crypt fiends, you name it. They even had a wight and it personally wiped out twenty of my men before being killed. It was so bad that by the time we repelled the first assault half of my men were dead or injured."

"I've been helping the Argent Dawn to the south of here so why haven't we heard of this attack?"

"I don't know," Elyrion confessed, "But if the Scourge organized an attack of this magnitude their leader must have planned distractions to keep other groups occupied until he won. That brings me to the reason I had you brought to me. Less then an hour ago the Scourge emptied out of the pass south for no reason that we can see. Is there anything you can give us that might explain where they went?"

Abbendis shrugged her shoulders, "To be honest I don't know how much I could tell you. I was making my way here with a companion for the Zul'Aman attack when we ran into the undead coming from here."

He held up a hand to stop her, "I feel the need to inform you that you are the first adventurer to make it to Thalassian Pass in the last two weeks. The Scourge presence has been so strong that every dragonhawk trying to fly into or out of Quel'Thalas has been struck down. I don't even know if Silvermoon has the forces capable of launching the attack at this point."

She glared at him and continued, "In any case, we found ourselves under assault. My companion came up with the plan to split up and divert the undead attention between the two of us."

Elyrion was about to say something when he felt a shift in the air. Frowning in confusion, he barely had time to look around before a large _boom_ echoed throughout the plaguelands. Peering around for the source he saw a harsh violet light intensely shining through trees, forcing him to close his eyes.

"What the hell is that?" he shouted. After a moment the light died down and Elyrion noticed a large plume of black smoke rising into the air beyond where the violet light came from.

"Katryn!"

The bloodmage nodded and jumped over the barricade. Muttering an incantation under her breath she closed her eyes and held her glowing yellow hands in the direction the blast came from. After a few seconds of intense concentration she relaxed and gave her report, "Elyrion whatever it was involved a large amount of mana that was first condensed and then released in a linear direction."

"Then what caused the explosion?"

She shrugged, "It probably hit something."

While the two blood elves conversed Brigitte Abbendis was deep in thought, concerned about what she just witnessed, _"What the hell was that light and explosion? Its power was enormous but there was something else about it that bothers me. It had the barest trace of demonic energy attached to it but it was on a scale the likes of which I have never seen before. Could Neliel have caused that?"_

* * *

_..._

* * *

**And I introduce two new original characters, the Arcanist Katryn and the Master Blood Knight Elyrion. I wanted to use an original lich for Neliel's interaction but Deathwhisper just worked out so well since we don't really know much of her back-story. Anyway I will most likely need to create a chapter with all my OCs, OOCs, and Bleach Characters since their appearances will be changing throughout the story. Sure this story STARTS in the Burning Crusade but you don't think they will get new armor before Lich King starts?**

**On another note, I changed how Neliel can fire a cero. I know she does it from her mouth in the anime and manga but I am working under the assumption that was simply because she absorbed the first cero by swallowing it. Besides, I like how Ulquiorra fires his cero and though that it would be cool for Neliel to do the same.**

**Abilities Used**

**Arcane Explosion:** A spell that usually releases a spherical explosion of arcane energy from around the mage

**Cero: **An ability that is exclusive to arrancar and hollows that concentrated their spiritual energy in a ball before releasing it into a beam

**Hammer of the Righteous: **Hits a single energy before a wave of light explodes outwards

**Holy Shock:** Blasts an enemy with Holy energy

**Pyroblast: **Hurls a boulder-sized fireball at an enemy

Tell your friends about this story. Read and Review.

~Bahamut_Reishiki


	12. Chapter 12: Tatsuki I

**I do not own the characters, ideas, and/or places from either Bleach or World of Warcraft and their respective universes. Tite Kubo and Blizzard® own them respectively. Any original characters in the story belong to me. Any comparisons to other fan fiction or series characters are entirely coincidental and not intentional.**

Hello - Normal Speech

_Hello_ – Normal Thought

**Hello** – Spells Cast/ Demons / Titans/ Inner Hollow/ Dragons / Arrancar Released Form

_**Hello**_ – Thoughts of Demons / Titans/ Inner Hollow/ Dragons / Arrancar Released Form

**I love reviews. To see that someone took the time to log in (or not) and criticize my work is fantastic. I don't care if the review is positive or negative as long as they give good reasons for their response I'm happy. I have gotten reviews that pointed out plot holes, questions I didn't answer, or simply things that I forgot.**

**PM or say in a review whether you prefer this method: One character per chapter or my earlier method. Depending on what is said I will go back and add material to the earlier sections (Chapters 9 – 11) in order to make them full-blown chapters.**

**AUTHOR NOTE #1: **Do not take this chapter as a sign that I am just going to redo Chapters 9-11 into full chapters. While I will delete those chapters one I have written full-length chapters I will make sure to include a lot of new material in each of them so that they are worth reading again.

* * *

...

* * *

**Secret of the Dragonflights Arc**

**Chapter 12: Tatsuki's Moonlight Battle**

Tatsuki reached the top of the hill surrounding Auberdine and let out a groan of exhaustion. She had been walking for what seemed like hours ever since she took her revenge against that group of night elves for capturing her. While she was free of her captors she was lost in a strange world full of beings that seem to not be that friendly. Covering her eyes with her palms she tried to think of a plan of what to do next.

"_Think Tatsuki! What would Uryu do in a situation like this?"_ After a few minutes passed and she couldn't think of anything, she let out a harsh, "Screw this! I'm just going to wing it for now and see what happens."

Following the winding path down the hill accompanied only by the sound of her feet crunching on the loose dirt and gravel, Tatsuki reached the entrance to Auberdine before two sentinels stopped her.

"Halt human. What is your reason for coming to Auberdine?"

At that moment, Tatsuki was never happier Orihime managed to convince her to take that acting class in school because at this point, all the acting lessons were helping to mask the nervousness she was feeling in front of the sentinels. While she was fairly certain that they had no reason to arrest her, she didn't want to make them suspicious.

"Oh, you know, just passing through."

"Passing through from where exactly?" one sentinel asked with narrowed glowing eyes.

Overcome with a feeling that the night elves in front of her would be able to tell if she was lying, Tatsuki decided that rather than making something completely us she would tell the truth, or at least part of it.

"I was up at one of the ruins when these little imp-like things attacked me," she started explained while accompanying her story with hand gestures, "So I ran for my life and after several minutes noticed I wasn't being chased anymore. So instead of going back and risk getting killed I decided to travel here and rest for a while."

The sentinel on the right gave her a harsh glare before she nodded and moved to the side, allowing Tatsuki passage into the village, "When will you humans learn that you cannot just go to places out of curiosity. If only your species was longer lived, your talent would be tempered with caution."

"Yeah it was nice meeting you and all but I have things to do," Tatsuki responded and walked past the sentinels into the village. As she moved away from their gaze, she let out a breath of relief. Even if they had no idea who she was she didn't want them to get suspicious, especially with that captain after her.

Peering around the village of Auberine, she was surprised when she saw other types of people walking around and working. There were the purple night elves she already met when she arrived, a couple of really short men and to her relief, some humans.

"_This place is great and all,"_ she thought as she meandered around the town, _"but I really should find a way out of here before that bitch and her troops wakes up. If I could get onto one of those boats before she shows up I should be fine."_

Deep in thought, the next thing that Tatsuki felt was bumping into someone and falling flat onto her back.

"Ow."

Picking herself off the ground, she reached over to help the person she ran into, "Sorry about that, I wasn't looking where I was going."

I'm fine, it was an accident after all," a regal voice replied.

Getting a good look at her victim now that she was no longer on her back, dazed and confused, Tatsuki realized that the person she hit was not exactly a human. Sure she almost completely resembled a human, from her long blonde hair to her skin tone, but the glowing green eyes and pointed ears made her look more like the sentinels she encountered earlier.

After a moment of intense scrutiny Tatsuki said, "Are you an elf?"

The elf gave Tatsuki an annoyed glare, "Very good human, were you born this smart or did you have to study?"

Tatsuki sheepishly rubbed the back of her head; "It's just that I never thought I would see someone like you here."

The elf looked appalled at that comment and glared at Tatsuki, "Do you have a problem with me being a blood elf? You know, not all of us decided to join the horde."

Tatsuki quickly shook her head as she tried to come up with a plausible story, "I'm just saying that back where I'm from elves like you are quite rare so when I saw you I was shocked. The other elves I saw here were those guards and, between you and me, they seem to have a stick up their collective ass."

The blood elf stood there before laughing, "That is so true. While I do have colleagues that are night elves, they tend to be snobbish like the sentinels you met."

Tatsuki chuckled before reaching out to shake her hand, "It's a pleasure to meet you. The name's Tatsuki Arisawa."

The blood elf looked at Tatsuki's outstretched hand for a second before smirking and shaking it, "And you may call me Silana. With that said, I never thought I would meet a human like yourself."

"What do you mean?"

Silana let out a soft sigh, "My people have done some things in the past couple of months to survive that most of us aren't proud of. Due to this, our former friends in the Alliance have disavowed us and so, we are part of the Horde. A lot of us left due to this, but we still cannot get rid of the social stigma of being traitors, even though most of us aren't."

Tatsuki frowned as Silana explained herself, "That makes no sense. If your people didn't do anything, why don't you simply run back to the Alliance and explain yourself. Wouldn't they understand if you explained everything that happened?"

"We tried that the first chance we could. We were forced out of Stormwind and back to the ruined remains of Silvermoon before we could say anything."

"I'm sorry about all that but I need to find a way out of this place."

"Hmm," Silana thought, "Since you have shown me more respect than I expected a human to have, I will offer my assistance. If you follow me, I will bring you to the docks."

"Thanks, but I think I can find my way there on my own."

"You may," Silana replied, "But will you be able to simply walk through customs without paying a fee?"

"Well…I don't think so."

"Good. So Tatsuki was it? I will be showing you how to get to the docks."

Tatsuki sighed as she fell in line behind Silana. Crossing her arms over her chest, she grumbled out, "Thanks for the help, I don't know what I would have done without you."

Several minutes later Tatsuki could be seen leaning against a wooden support as her new blood elf colleague talked to the night elf in the custom's office. Loath as she was to admit it, Silana was a big help in getting through customs without questions being asked. Tatsuki knew that if questions were to be asked, holes in her cover story would be found and another fight was the last thing she wanted to have. As Silana finished talking and paying, she left the office and walked over to Tatsuki.

"Well, the fare is all taken care of so where are you heading off to?"

Tatsuki shrugged, "This is my first time here so I really don't have a plan or anything."

Silana scrunched her face as she dug through her knapsack for the schedule. "I know it is in here somewhere. Aha!" she exclaimed as she pulled out a piece of paper, "There are three boats that currently have schedules involving stops in Auberdine. First there is the boat that goes to the home of the night elves, Teldrassil."

"No thanks, I'll pass on that for now."

"Alright," she sighed, "The ship at the far end of the dock is the _Elune's Blessing_ and it exclusively travels between here and Azuremyst Isle, the home of the Draenei."

"Draenei?"

Silana's gaze drifted over the sea as she tried to describe them to Tatsuki, "Draenei are…well…imagine a really friendly human but blue, about seven or eight feet tall with glowing white eyes, horns, hooves and a tail."

Tatsuki tried to imagine that in her head but unlike Orihime she did not have a vivid imagination so she simply nodded.

"The last boat, _The Bravery_, is probably the most popular one. It travels all the way from Menethil Harbor in the Eastern Kingdoms to here once every couple of days and wouldn't you know your luck, it is currently docked and will depart within an hour."

Tatsuki mulled over the options given to her. While she would have preferred just staying put until one of her friends found her, she was never a sedentary person and would get antsy after a while and probably get into various trouble.

"Since I don't want to go anywhere else I guess Menethil Harbor is my only choice. By the way you could have simply gotten me the ticket and left, you don't need to actually go with me."

Silana fixed her robes and adjusted the pack on her back, "I don't know why but there is something fascinating about you. Since I saw you back in Auberdine I have had a strange feeling that if I stick around you I will bear witness to great events."

"So…you are sticking with me because you think strange and weird things will happen to me?"

"Pretty much."

"Well, I've had people stay with me for weirder reasons so let's get going before we miss the boat."

* * *

...

* * *

As _The Bravery_ set sail for Menethil Harbor several injured sentinels leapt out of the forests near Auberdine. While most of them only had superficial wounds there were two that had more serious injuries that required the aid of a priest. Leading the sentinels as they raced towards the town was Captain Bylena Moonstrike, blood streaming out of several cuts on her body and several pieces of her sentinel armor missing.

"Ma'am, there is no reason to believe that the human we fought is on that ship," one of the sentinels running beside her suggested.

"If you think that then you are a fool," she spat, causing the sentinel that spoke up to fall back, "this…human was strong enough to overpower all of us and escape with minimal injuries. You do not think she would try to get as far away from us as possible?"

Bylena skidded to a stop at the entrance to Auberdine as her men raced by her into the town.

"Ma'am!" one of the two sentinels on guard saluted.

"Did you see a young female human wearing silver armor come through here recently?"

"Why yes," the guard said, "She came through about an hour ago."

Bylena grabbed the sentinel and shoved her against a wall. The act was made all the more impressive by the fact that the two women were the same size, "Why did you let her through?"

The guard coughed as she attempted to pry Bylena's hands away from her throat, "We had no reason to suspect her of anything. Humans come through here all the time, especially adventurers."

Bylena sneered as she let go of the guard, who took in some much needed air, "I want you to send a missive to Darnassus and Lady Tyrande. Inform her we have a highly dangerous individual on the loose and what our orders should be."

Turning to the other guard, who had been standing there silently she ordered, "Get me a manifest for every boat that comes in and out of Auberdine. I want to know what ship she boarded and where it was heading in thirty minutes. If I'm lucky I will be able to follow her within a day."

With her orders given, Bylena pushed past the sentinel guards and into Auberdine. There was no way that woman would escape her after making such a mockery of her. Over one thousand years of training and a human girl manages to both overpower her but beat her into unconsciousness? No matter what Lady Tyrande says, there was no way this girl was going to survive after this.

* * *

...

* * *

Tatsuki was looking at the world tree Teldrassil when a cold feeling of dread washed over her.

"Quite impressive isn't it?"

Tatsuki turned to Silana, "It's huge. That can't be a tree."

Silana chuckled, "You are partially correct. It is the world tree Teldrassil and the home of the majority of night elves on Azeroth."

"How can millions of night elves live in that tree," she asks, "Even if it is that big there is not way it can support that many."

"I don't know about millions," Silana said laughing gently, "but the capital city of Darnassus only boasts a population of about twenty thousand so I think Teldrassil can support them just fine."

"Still," Tatsuki argued, "An entire race living in the branches of a tree. What happens if the tree falls or a branch breaks? Isn't it kind of stupid to live so far up on something so fragile?"

"That is something most blood elves would agree with you on. Now follow me below deck, night is falling and the temperature can drop to below freezing this time of year."

Tatsuki followed her below deck where they found a large room full of tables and chairs. "I know it's not luxurious," Silana said, "But they do serve food and refreshments and that is better than nothing."

Pushing past Silana, Tatsuki sat at a table near the corner with an audible sigh of relief, "My legs are killing me. This armor just does not breathe."

Silana walked over and sat across from Tatsuki. Putting her bag on the table, she withdrew two silver coins and held them up in the air. Within moments a waitress came over with two cups of hot tea.

Giving a nod of thanks to the waitress Tatsuki grabbed the tea, grateful that her armor prevented her from burning, and took an experimental sip. Grimacing when she burned her tongue, she put her cup back on the table.

"So what's your deal?"

Silana arched an eyebrow, "I beg your pardon?"

"Tell me about yourself."

Silana eyes shifted from her tea to Tatsuki, "You want to know about me?"

"Yeah," Tatsuki shrugged, "If we're going to travel together I want to know more about you."

Silana sat deep in thought before grinning as she put her cup down on the table. Folding her hands behind her head she leaned back against her chair and let out a deep breath, "Where do I start? I was born the younger of two children into a highly prominent high elf family but my mother died giving birth to me so it was just my brother, my father and myself. During my childhood dad was always busy it so I spent most of my time with my brother since as children we had no cares in the world. We did not know about trolls, the horde, orcs, or demons."

"I'm guessing everything changed?"

"Not as quickly as you think. One day, dad came home and announced that he would be taking my brother with him in order to groom him for taking over once he was gone. At the time I was jealous of my brother for getting all of dad's attention and love but I was mistaken, as children often are."

Tatsuki didn't say anything as she listened to Silana. What could she say in a conversation like this anyway?

Silana waited a moment before continuing, "When I asked him why he only brought my brother he said: 'Silana, I'm doing this not because I don't love you but because one day your brother will be under a lot of pressure to succeed and not make mistakes. I need to make sure that when that day comes he will not fold and break.' After that things went mostly back to normal until a couple of years later when he sent both of us to Dalaran to study magic, albeit with a strict warning."

"What kind of warning?"

"He said," Silana coughed as she mimicked her father, "You are going to bring pride to this family. I expect you two to succeed beyond anything the mortal races are capable of, especially the humans. If I find out that you were outdone by a human you might as well not come back to Silvermoon!"

Tatsuki looked shocked, "Was he serious?"

"We were young so we both thought he was serious," she said as her expression turned downtrodden, "But now, looking back, I think he was just trying to scare us into doing our best. My brother and I both knew that he had a fierce dislike for humanity but even he admitted that there were exceptions."

Tatsuki sighed and looked around the mess hall and crossed her legs together, "I guess by your tone you did not do so well."

"Oh no, I did excel past almost every other student in Dalaran," Silana chuckled, "Even Jaina Proudmoore acknowledged my prowess but it was my brother that was the prodigy of the family. Every time that I would excel in a field he would do better, if I would master a spell he would create a brand new one, if I found a new incantation for a spell he would find a way to cast that same spell without saying anything. He pushed the boundaries of magical knowledge time and time again. "

"And you hated him for it?"

"Of course not!" Silana said angrily, "I loved my brother and whenever he accomplished something I was always the first to congratulate him. It was my father I couldn't stand. Whenever I went home to Quel'Thalas and told him of my progress he would silently nod his head before asking about my brother's feats. I hated seeing him after a while because, to me, it seemed that all he cared about was my brother. As the years passed I still loved by brother but I grew to hate my father. Eventually I decided enough was enough."

"What did you do?" Tatsuki asked.

"Once I finished up my apprenticeship under one of the Six I decided to forgo returning to Quel'Thalas. I packed up my things and tried to walk out of Dalaran."

"Tried?"

Silana let out a soft laugh, "I found my brother waiting for me. Apparently he figured out what I planned to do and was determined to try and stop me. He begged for me to reconsider what I was doing while I yelled at him saying that I wanted to follow my own path in the world without always being compared to him. Eventually he capitulated but before I could walk by and out of Dalaran he said that I was brave for standing up to dad and that he wished he could do the same."

"What happened next?"

"That is a story for another day Tatsuki," Silana said, getting out of her chair, "It is close to midnight so why don't we try to get some sleep."

She was about to argue when she let out a loud yawn. Standing up, she groaned and walked to her cabin, "I guess you're right. See you in the morning."

Silana stood there a few minutes after Tatsuki left before following her, her hand curled around the red pendant hanging on her neck.

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Tatsuki was sleeping soundly, dreaming of kicking someone's ass, when her eyes shot open as a loud thump echoed through her room and disturbed her sleep. Groggily sitting up in her bed she glanced around the room quickly before letting her head fall back against her pillow.

"_It's just the ship. Nothing to worry about."_

As she was about to once again fall into blissful unconsciousness she heard the thump again but this time it was accompanied by a short grating sound afterwards.

"_Goddamn it."_

Groaning, she swung her legs off the side of the bed. As she stood up and stretched a quick flash of light appeared and she found herself wearing her armor once again.

"I was wondering where it went," she whispered tiredly.

Looking across the room to Silana, who was sound asleep in a pile of blankets on her bed, she carefully and quietly walked over to her cabin door. Going through and closing it behind her, she found herself near the now-empty mess hall, the only light coming from the dying embers of once proud candles. She made her way across the room to the stairs leading to the deck while carefully stepping around chairs and tables. Climbing up the creaking steps she grabbed the handle of the door and walked into the midnight air.

Tatsuki stood on the deck, the only light coming from the moons hanging listlessly overhead casting a pale blue-white glow. Looking to the left she saw that the coastline in the distance had transformed into imposing mountains with peaks that stretched up thousands of feet. Seeing nothing out of the ordinary she walked over to the side of the ship, her armored feet causing the wooden boards to groan, and leaned against the railing.

"Huh," she muttered as she looked up at the moons in the midnight sky, "This world may be weird and all but the two moons thing is kind of cool."

She stood looking over the sea as the ship lazily made its way to its destination. Yawning, she stretched and was about to go back to bed when her ears picked up the familiar scrapping sound that woke her up in the first place. Without giving away that she was aware of it, she strained herself to hear it better. As the scrapping got louder her eyes widened in realization and she spun around against the railing just as a spear flew through the air where she just was.

Her back to the railing, Tatsuki focused on the spear before turning to find out who threw it. Slithering over the other side of the ship was a large green creature that resembled a cross between a man and a snake and what was worse, it was grinning with a mouth full of sharp teeth.

"Oh you find this funny do you?" she seethed as her hand wrapped around the shaft of the spear before easily pulling it out of the wood. Giving it an experimental toss, she reared her right arm back and narrowed her eyes, "Let's see just how funny you think this is."

Throwing the spear at the naga like a javelin she was surprised when the creature slithered out of the way, only getting a small cut across its shoulders as a result. It turned back to face Tatsuki when it found her palm in its face.

"You honestly think that was it?"

The naga was taller than her so Tatsuki had to leap into the air in order to deliver her vengeance. Thrusting her palm into the naga's face she carried through with her attack by slamming its head into the deck and dragging it before slamming it into a wall.

Kneeling down next to the dead naga, she was about to let out a sigh of relief when she heard splashing and hissing noises from all around the ship. Her friend here, it seems, did not come here alone.

Pounding footsteps drew her attention away from the body and towards the stairs where several people were pouring onto the deck.

"What the hell happened here Tatsuki?" Silana asked as she pushed her way to the front. When she saw the bleeding body she stopped and let out a small gasp, "Is-is that a naga? What is it doing on this ship?"

"I don't know," Tatsuki replied while motioning with her hand to it, "But this bastard tried to kill me and I think he has friends."

Their conversation was interrupted as a loud bell started ringing and a voice shouted, "We are under attack by naga! Defend yourselves, they are coming up over the sides!"

Silana grit her teeth and thrust her palm forward, releasing a fireball that flew past Tatsuki's shoulder into the face of a myrmidon attempting to climb over the railing behind her. When she turned around, Tatsuki paid for her distraction when several arcane missiles slammed into her back, dissipating off her spiritual armor but causing her to stumble and fall forward.

On her knees and coughing harshly from the spell, Tatsuki snarled and turned around to see a naga enchantress grinning at her with her mouth of sharp teeth. As she pushed herself off the ground, eyes never leaving the naga, she swore she saw it give her the finger from all four of its arms.

"You…bitch!"

"Tatsuki!" Silana called as she fought off several naga with a combination of **Fire Blasts** from her left hand and **Frostbolts** from her right hand.

Tatsuki raised an arm towards Silana, "I'm fine but I can't say the same about this bitch in about a minute."

The enchantress reared back on her tail as her top pair of arms began waving in a complicated pattern. Tatsuki rolled to the side as a blue glyph appeared on the deck before spears of ice shot. Stumbling to her feet she quickly shot towards the shocked naga. The enchantress desperately tried to flee when it became clear Tatsuki would reach her before she could get off another spell.

Ducking under the naga's feeble claw attack, Tatsuki reared back her clenched fist and smashed it into the naga's stomach while shouting, "Oh no you don't!" The naga spit up blue blood mixed with saliva as she was catapulted back with enough force to lift her completely off the deck and over the railing back into the sea.

Spitting on the ground, Tatsuki wiped a small trail of blood off of her mouth with her arm and was about to go find another naga to fight when she felt a hand firmly grasp her arm. She was about to attack whoever it was holding her when she noticed it was Silana. Apart from a few tears in her robes the blood elf mage was surprisingly fine.

"Fighting these foot soldiers will not stop them from attacking us. We need to find their leader and kill them. Only then will they flee."

"That's a good idea but how will we find them?" Tatsuki asked sarcastically.

"Based upon their attack pattern they are led by a battlemaster naga which means they will be around here somewhere." Looking around Silana pointed up a flight of stairs, "The best bet is to go to the highest point on the ship and look for a naga that is wearing better than normal armor, looks different, or is surrounded by several other naga."

"What about you? Aren't you going to come help?"

Silana shook her head, "No, I am needed down here to keep the naga from overwhelming us. I promise you though that if a chance comes for me to help I will break off as quickly as I can."

"Don't die Silana, I haven't heard the end of your story yet," Tatsuki mockingly said as she ran towards the stairs leading to the captain's deck.

Skidding under a naga's swing she grabbed the sword from one of his right hands, turned it around, and stabbed it into his stomach. Hearing the familiar sounds of the attack that surprised her before, she ducked behind the naga corpse as the arcane missiles impacted it, breaking off several chunks of flesh.

"_I love this armor."_

Throwing the body towards her attacker Tatsuki bolted for the stairs bounding up them in only a few steps. When she got to the top she saw the captain, a night elf by the looks of it, impaled to the deck by a trident stabbed through her stomach.

"Hold on!" she whispered as she knelt down next to her and attempted to stop the bleeding, "Help is on the way. Just hang on!"

The night elf coughed as she struggled to breathe. With a trail of blood leaking from her lips she raised a shaking arm and pointed behind Tatsuki.

Standing near the railing overlooking the battle below, was the biggest naga she had seen yet. With emerald green scales and wearing quality grey and yellow armor he seemed to be engrossed in the battle between his followers and Tatsuki's fellow passengers and did not seem to notice her presence yet.

"_He must be their leader."_

Carefully sneaking towards the naga, she was just about in range to tackle it when its tail whipped out and smashed into her stomach, making her gag as she rocketed back into the side of the ship.

"**You did not believe I didn't know you were there human, did you? I could smell your disgusting odor the second even before you tried to help that pitiful night elf of a captain,"** he said as his head spun around to look at her.

"You bastard," she coughed out as she attempted to pick herself up, "What the hell do you want?"

"**It's strange,"** he pondered, **"Here you are on the ground in front of me and you are attempting to interrogate me as if the situation were reversed. You lesser races always assume everyone will listen to you."**

"I wouldn't call a sneak attack a sign of superiority," she said, "Only a coward assumes so."

The naga's eyes narrowed with hatred, **"You deem yourself worthy of being my equal simply because you bested my guards to reach me?" **When the only response was the sound of Tatsuki's armor creaking as she prepared to fight, the naga slithered over and yanked his trident out of the captain. Tatsuki watched in horror as the night elf gurgled for a moment before falling silent against the deck.

Before either of them could do anything a naga siren slithered her way up to the deck from the stairs in front of Tatsuki, **"Warlord Kalithresh the item, it is not here. The information was wrong."**

Kalithresh let out some guttural words that Tatsuki assumed were naga curses, **"It appears our spy lied and the keystone is not here after all. Lady Vashj will be most unpleased with my failure. Go tell the others that we will be taking no prisoners."**

As the siren slithered down the stairs Kalithresh turned to Tatsuki. **"As for you," **he hissed raising his trident at her, **"I think your head will make an excellent trophy for my lady!"**

Tatsuki parried the strike from the trident, sparks flying off as the weapon scrapped against her gauntlet. As the weapon shot past her she snaked her arm around the base of the trident and pulled it and Kalithresh towards her. Attempting to smash her knee into what she thought was his stomach Tatsuki was surprised when she felt a scaly hand grab her knee and hold it tightly.

"Let go!" she yelled as she headbutted him, causing him to hiss in pain and let her go. Jumping back to put some distance between them, Tatsuki was dismayed to see Kalithresh shake his head back and forth before glaring at her.

"**I will admit that was an interesting move," **he hissed as he charged at Tatsuki, **"But you are still no match for me!"**

"Bring it on you bastard!" Tatsuki yelled back as she ran towards him, her arm reared back.

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**And here is the first full chapter about Tatsuki. While the first section was already posted, the majority of the chapter is new and exciting. Writing the background of Silana was hard but I promise you in the future of this story I will finish her tale.**

**I wanted to add some more to the chapter but if I did so I would have to keep writing and it would eventually end up being 10k+ words and that would throw off my entire story line so I cut it off just before her fight against Kalithresh got interesting. For those of you that played Warcraft, Warlord Kalithresh is the final boss from the Steamvaults in Outlands. I decided to use him since I needed an important naga to come to Azeroth and he just stood out.**

Tell your friends about this story. Read and Review.

~Bahamut_Reishiki


	13. Chapter 13: Rukia I

**I do not own the characters, ideas, and/or places from either Bleach or World of Warcraft and their respective universes. Tite Kubo and Blizzard® own them respectively. Any original characters in the story belong to me. Any comparisons to other fan fiction or series characters are entirely coincidental and not intentional.**

Hello - Normal Speech

_Hello_ – Normal Thought

**Hello** – Spells Cast/ Demons / Titans/ Inner Hollow/ Dragons / Arrancar Released Form

_**Hello**_ – Thoughts of Demons / Titans/ Inner Hollow/ Dragons / Arrancar Released Form

**I love reviews. To see that someone took the time to log in (or not) and criticize my work is fantastic. I don't care if the review is positive or negative as long as they give good reasons for their response I'm happy. I have gotten reviews that pointed out plot holes, questions I didn't answer, or simply things that I forgot.**

**AUTHOR NOTE #1: **I may make a chapter containing all of my Original Characters in order to give more history about them. Do note, if I do that, that it would always be a work in progress. I will not give information about them that I have not already written in my story.

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**Secret of the Dragonflights Arc**

**Chapter 13: Rukia's Encounter with Death**

Rukia only took a few steps away from the lift before she turned back and pressed herself against one of the pylons that one held it up. Carefully peeking down the cliff to the beach, she observed the beings she fought were running away to the north.

"_What were those beings? They acted and spoke like people but they seemed to be composed entirely of glowing metal."_

Moving away from the cliff, Rukia took one last look before taking off in a light sprint directly away from the lift, _"I should put some distance between me and those creatures. I doubt that was the only way to scale those cliffs. After all, they attacked me from the opposite side of the lift which means they didn't take it down to confront me."_

Trekking westward across the Howling Fjord, Rukia carefully paid attention in case of another ambush by those creatures. After a long time passed with no further interactions or encounters, she felt safe enough to slow her pace down to a walk to conserve energy. While she felt safe, she kept one hand on her zanpakuto just in case. As she walked through the sparse woods, something caught her eye and caused her to stop and take a closer look.

Perched on a wooden pole was a tattered red cloth with an emblem on it that resembled the skull of a dragon. As she was examining it, the sound of a branch snapping forced her to turn around. When she did her eyes widened in astonishment.

Surrounding her were dozens of giant men and women holding axes, swords and many other weapons. Gritting her teeth, Rukia was prepared to fight them off when a stern female voice shouted, "Hold!"

The vrykul surrounding her seemed to hesitate for a moment before several of them reluctantly parted. Narrowing her eyes, Rukia saw that the voice that ordered them to stop belonged to an auburn haired vrykul dressed in a deep purple robe. Rukia didn't even have time to speak before the woman's authoritative voice spoke, "Why have you come here creature?"

"…I beg your pardon?" Rukia asked as she realized the woman in front of her was probably the leader of these people.

Holding a hand up and preventing the warriors around her from speaking, the woman responded, "You may look and even sound like one of those weak humans but that is merely your appearance. The aura surrounding your body speaks of death and souls and yet you do not resemble one of _his_ slaves.

While catching the hatred at the end, Rukia decided to ask, "How did you come to such a conclusion?"

The woman scoffed, "Do you take me for a fool creature? I am Ashilda, high shaman of Howling Fjord! Sensing a presence such as yours was simple. I will not repeat myself again so tell me what you are!"

Steadying her zanpakuto at her side, Rukia looked over the vrykul surrounding her. Seeing no way out, she decided that answering the woman in front of her was probably her best option, "I may not fully understand how it is you have come to that conclusion, but you are correct. I am not a human."

"What are you then creature?"

"I am a shinigami."

Mutters of confusion passed amongst the vrykul before Ashilda cut them off, "And what is a shinigami?"

"A shinigami," Rukia started saying as she chose her words carefully, "Is someone that helps to ferry souls from the world of the living to the afterlife."

At the end of Rukia's explanation Ashilda seemed to stare into Rukia's eyes before asking, "What is this afterlife like?"

Rukia thought for a moment before saying, "The afterlife really depends on the soul of the person going there. There are sections for those that simply want a peaceful eternity and other areas for those that prefer fighting."

The vrykul surrounding her started whispering to each other in excitement before Ashilda could restore order. "Fighting?" she asked.

"The afterlife, or Soul Society, allows the souls of the departed to fight as long as they don't endanger the souls around them. Of course the shinigami understand accidents but they cannot allow willing harm to those that don't want to fight."

Ashilda seemed to ponder what Rukia said as she ordered three vrykul forward, "These warriors are to escort you to Nifflevar. If you do not attempt to escape, they will not have any reason to harm you."

"I take it you don't trust me?" Rukia mockingly asked.

"I trust you creature as much as you are able to throw one of these warriors. If we are going to believe you are a 'sender of souls' we are going to need visible proof. You must perform an act or an accomplishment that shows the power you claim to have."

"What do you want me to do? It's not like I can just conjure up a soul at will."

"Glad you asked," Ashilda said with a sadistic smile that reminded Rukia of a certain captain, "One of _his_ agents, those that call themselves the Val'kyr, arrived at Nifflevar not too long ago. She has been trying to convince my village to bow down to _him_ by claiming _he_ is able to wake our king from his long sleep."

"Who is this man you keep referring to?"

"It is not important right now. Now stay here while I go get the val'kyr," Ashilda spat as she turned around the corner.

With Ashilda gone, Rukia looked around and noticed something peculiar. While the vrykul 'guarding' her had massive weapons and hand-made armor, they seemed almost nervous and somewhat fearful at the mention of val'kyr. Looking up at one warrior she asked, "What are these val'kyr?"

The warrior looked at Rukia and almost spit out his answer, "They are abominations! Creatures removed from the natural cycle of life and death and held on a leash by their so-called _Lich King_. As if any true vrykul would bow down to him!"

"_That explains so much…"_ Rukia deadpanned, "But why does she trust me so much?"

"For the past eighty years High Shaman Ashilda has led us in prosperity. Since you are talking to me without having your head on a pike she already believes you. Meeting the val'kyr is more of a way for her to get rid of a hated enemy without dirtying her hands."

She may not have known what was going on but she had a feeling she was being used in a political move. She stood waiting for a few minutes before the warrior called out, "It approaches."

Rukia heard the voices speaking long before she saw who they were. The first voice had a slight grating to it and she recognized it as Ashilda and by her tone, she was annoyed. The second voice though, sounded almost like a cold whisper and echoed with a harsh undertone.

"I do not know what this little diversion is about Ashilda," the voice argued, "You know very well that I was just about to leave for Utgarde Keep."

"I assure you abomination that you will find this trip to be quite interesting."

The voice sneered, "You will be wise to show some respect mortal or my master will make sure someone else is put into place that does."

"Of course," Ashilda replied, "Just as soon as he is able to kill me."

As Ashilda and the val'kyr finally entered her vision, Rukia let out an involuntary shudder. Floating about two feet off the ground behind the shaman was a pale-white and almost transparent figure in the shape of a woman. With large feathery wings and ethereal armor hugging her body, she almost resembled one of those angels humans believe in so much. But it wasn't the appearance of the val'kyr that caused her to shudder; it was the sense of wrongness about it. Every fiber of her shinigami body was screaming at her to slay this…thing in front of her.

"Pay attention so-called shinigami," Ashilda commanded, forcing Rukia to snap to attention. Walking away from the val'kyr she said, "This thing is a val'kyr and as such they are immune to most of our attacks and weapons with whatever does affect them only doing minimal damage. On the other hand, they can shift their bodies to avoid any damage. If you are what you claim to be, slaying this abomination should be a simple matter."

The val'kyr summoned an ethereal sword and spat enraged at the betrayal, "You bitch! I will see to it that my master sunders each and every soul here to oblivion!"

With the val'kyr's attention focused entirely on Ashilda, Rukia swiftly drew her zanpakuto and sprinted forward. The val'kyr noticed her approaching and, with an almost lazy effort, swung her blade towards her under the assumption that it couldn't be stopped by any mortal weapon. She was confused when a small smile graced Rukia's lips before confusion turned to shock as Rukia's zanpakuto clashed against her ethereal blade, stopping it in its tracks. Before she could do anything Rukia pushed off the ground and easily cut through her left shoulder, severing her arm from her body.

"AHHHH!" the val'kyr screeched, flapping her wings and flying away from Rukia. Clutching her shoulder she screamed at Rukia, "What the fuck are you? How can a weak and powerless human harm me, a chosen follower of the Lich King? Tell me!"

Rukia calmly readjusted her stance and held her zanpakuto with one hand, "What are you so upset about? Your injury is due to the fact that you did not take me seriously."

The val'kyr growled before the ethereal sword in her remaining hand lit up with a bright white flame. Flapping her wings she flew towards Rukia, who blocked the swing but was forced back a few feet. Pushing back she forced the val'kyr into a standstill, neither one able to overpower the other. Holding her zanpakuto with one hand and using her other to support her blade she was confused when her opponent let out a feral grin.

As the ethereal flames around her sword intensified the val'kyr shouted, "Die!"

Rukia's eyes widened as the force from the val'kyr's attack multiplied. With no alternative she executed a quick burst of shunpo and disappeared.

With nothing remaining beneath her to resist her attack the val'kyr crashed into the ground. Using her sword as a crutch to push herself off the ground, the val'kyr looked around for Rukia, "What just happened? Where did she go?"

"Looking for me?"

Twisting around, the val'kyr found Rukia breathing slightly heavily but looking none the worse for wear. Growling in frustration she extended her wings to their fullest before firing dozens of ghostly razor-sharp feathers at Rukia, who grit her teeth slightly as she was forced to jump and dodge to avoid being skewered. Once the attack ceased, Rukia had managed to dodge every feather except for one that slightly grazed her left arm.

"Wait a minute!" the val'kyr suddenly shouted.

Although she wanted to attack the val'kyr, her noble upbringing forced Rukia to listen to her, "What do you want?"

"What is your purpose for helping these mortals? Your powers show that you are far beyond any of them. If you wanted to you could kill each and every one of them. Come with me to my master! He can give you power beyond your comprehension!"

"I must respectively decline," Rukia answered as she prepared to strike down the val'kyr, "I have no intention of meeting a man that can create a monster such as you."

"How dare you…HOW DARE YOU INSULT MY MASTER!" the val'kyr shouted as she flew into a rage. As her anger grew, Rukia could feel and see an unholy aura growing in intensity around her, bathing the surrounding area with a nauseous black light and evil wind. Looking around, she saw the vrykul watching the fight backing off in fear.

"She is attempting to devour our soul's shinigami!" Ashilda shouted over the wind, her hands glowing with a bluish-green light, "I am using all of my power to stop her from doing so but it will not last for long. You have proven to us that you can harm this creature, now finish the job and slay the traitorous bitch!"

Rukia nodded at Ashilda before facing the val'kyr, "Take pride in the fact that you will bear witness to this power." Closing her eyes and letting out a light breath, she held her zanpakuto in front of her body and slowly spun in around counter-clockwise. As she stopped she called out, "Dance: Sode no Shirayuki!"

As soon as she called out the name a blasé of cold air and spiritual pressure permeated the surrounding area, utterly overwhelming and shattering the unholy aura the val'kyr was giving off. When the wind subsided and the pressure disappeared, the vrykul were speechless at what they saw. Instead of the small sword Rukia had earlier she now held a long white blade with a white ribbon on the end that danced in an invisible wind. After taking a few practice swings, Rukia looked at the val'kyr and smirked.

Of all the vrykul that were witnessing the battle, none were more shocked than Ashilda. The high shaman could feel another spirit inside Rukia's transformed blade, empowering it and strengthening her. What was strange was that unlike the Lich King's followers, the spirit seemed to be willingly giving Rukia power without the feeling of disgust and decay that encompasses his other minions. Narrowing her eyes and concentrating she could barely make out a figure of a pale woman with white hair and in a white robe standing behind Rukia with her hands on her shoulders. The spirit seemed to notice her and turned to Ashilda and gently smiled.

The val'kyr had silently floated in shock when her aura was forcibly stopped and shattered. When she was finally able to get over the shock she asked, "What is this magic?"

Without taking her eyes off the val'kyr Rukia coldly responded, "This is an ability that we shinigami have. By training for years we are able to release our true power in order to deal with powerful enemies. In most cases I would not have needed to use this against you but I was not about to risk their souls."

"_What kind of power is this?"_ the val'kyr thought. Looking down at the ground below Rukia, she was shocked to see it slowly freezing. _"After her sword changed, the ground around her began to freeze like one of my master's death knights. And why…"_ she trailed off as she let out a shout and charged Rukia, her blade glowing with the same unholy black light she released earlier, _"…why does that blade of hers fill me with such fear after it changed? Every fiber of my being is screaming at me to run and hide but I will not let my master down. I cannot!"_

"DIE!"

Rukia calmly watched the val'kyr fly towards her. Sighing, she stabbed the ground in front of her and called out, "Juhaku!"

The val'kyr didn't even have time to blink before a mass of ice materialized around her, stopping her motion and freezing her in midflight. With her opponent frozen solid and unable to get out, Rukia let the arm holding her zanpakuto drop to her side. Letting out a deep sigh, she noticed the vrykul running up to the frozen val'kyr and jeering at her with their weapons.

"Wait." she shouted at the half-giants, "She is not quite dead yet."

The vrykul parted around Rukia as she walked towards the val'kyr. Raising her zanpakuto above her head she thrust it down, cutting through the ice as if it were butter and into the skull of the val'kyr. As the blade entered her skull, the ice around the val'kyr shattered as she let out an unholy scream before disintegrating into nothingness. Closing her eyes, Rukia turned away and resealed her zanpakuto while being careful not to show her exhaustion.

"_I feel as if I just ran a couple of miles. What is it about this world that is causing my powers to malfunction?"_

"That was a most impressive performance Death Goddess," Ashilda said as she approached her.

"Why do you call me that?"

"You honestly do not know? You came out of the sea in the form of a weak and powerless human and then proceeded to show your superior powers over a creature none of us could have harmed. You have the willing help of a powerful spirit residing inside your blade that you used to decimate the val'kyr and cause it, a creature born into undeath and corruption, to cringe in fear and horror."

"_She could see Sode no Shirayuki?"_ Rukia thought before she blushed slightly at the compliment. As someone brushed by her she noticed dozens of vrykul running out of Nifflevar, "Where are they going?"

"They are going to spread the name and power of the Death Goddess. You, who stood up against the creatures that were so close to enslaving all vrykul in Northrend, have given us hope to thrive on our own without bowing down to someone that calls themselves the Lich King. Now come, we must head to Utgarde Keep and see Queen Angerboda. If we can demonstrate your powers to her, she will be able to make every vrykul rise up against him."

Rukia wanted to argue that she wasn't a goddess but quickly stopped herself short. If allowing these people to believe that she was some sort of god prevented their slavery to another being that was able to enslave souls, she was willing to go with it.

Sighing slightly, she nodded to Ashilda, "Fine then, let's go to this Utgarde Keep."

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The Lich King slumbered but did not sleep for his mind was too vast and powerful for rest. He sat contemplating the ongoing campaign across Northrend when a sudden jolt hit his mind. Expanding his presence outwards he realized the sensation came about as one of his winged val'kyr meet her second end. Such an occurrence usually slips beneath his notice but something about this particular death stung at his mind. While the death of a single val'kyr was not a large loss, he could always make another after all. With his hold over the vrykul weakened he would have to use more direct methods in order to bring them under his control.

He walked through the frozen plane of trapped souls as he contemplated how the death of his val'kyr caused such a mental backlash. The Ashbringer would not cause such an effect, it simply burned undead and demons to ash upon contact and besides, it was firmly corrupted and could not be the source. No, he shook his head as he gazed into the icy distance, the only way that such a mental backlash could occur is if the weapon used severed his hold on the val'kyr's soul. Looking down at the spiritual representation of Frostmourne at his side, he shook his helmeted head. No, that is impossible. There is no other weapon with a similar power on Azeroth but, he pondered, there was no other explanation. Someone possessed a weapon that could cut through souls and destroy the bonds holding them to him with ease and that infuriated him.

The lich king's palpable rage caused the mental realm to shake and the echoes of the trapped souls to increase. Such a weapon could potentially lead to his undoing if the wielder was sufficiently powerful enough. With the ability to break his hold on souls without much effort he did not doubt if such a weapon were used to fully incinerate a lich, their phylactery would not help them. He did not want to even consider the consequences of clashing Frostmourne against such a weapon.

This weapon and its wielder compose a problem that he would have to deal with subtly. If he simply sent out waves of undead to confront its wielder he could not guarantee victory and if they found out that it was he who sent them, he could find himself in a premature confrontation. Doing so would cause him to awaken too soon and leave him physically weakened. No, he growled, he would not risk such a battle without further information. He would send his banshees and val'kyr to spy from a distance and report back whatever they found.

This person was a major problem due to their proximity to Icecrown Citadel and weapon but there were other problems that required his attention that could potentially be as bad or worse if they escalate. Deathwhisper's incompetence in the plaguelands caused his glowing eyes to narrow. When he felt the powerful being enter Azeroth in such close proximity to his forces, he prepared accordingly. He did not expect Deathwhisper to lure them over to his side. Someone with that much power could not be persuaded by her honeyed words. He expected a rejection but he could not have foreseen the reaction. Rather than fighting the undead to flee they charged up an attack with enough concentrated mana to almost obliterate Deathwhisper on the spot. When Deathwhisper returned in disgrace and described her enemy he scoffed. Being defeated by a woman was acceptable; there were many powerful women on Azeroth. It was the ease in which she defeated his lich that insulted him. But, he admitted, as long as that human-like being did not venture to Northrend or move purposefully against him he would not prioritize her disposal.

Thinking of the strange woman forced his thoughts to Katrana Prestor. With a growl he obliterated several chained souls to his right. Her discovery of a Titan installation on an island near the Maelstrom was intriguing enough to temporarily partner with her. She would help to prevent the Alliance from finding out about it and he would protect and help her. Even though he understood quite well that she would attempt to betray him at the first opportunity presented, she was a black dragon after all, he could not pass up a chance to get his hands on some Titan artifacts. They were the only ones his previous masters feared and if they feared them so much then there should be objects, artifacts, and weapons in there that might just boost the power of his Scourge tremendously. As long as she didn't mess up or attempt to betray him he would not kill her.

Mess up. He scoffed at that phrase. Even he knew that she messed up badly when her plans were found out by that human in the Duskwoods. Bloodhaze's inability to kill him might, to others, appear to show his own incompetence and in most other cases they would be correct but here, it just demonstrated how strong that boy was. As he thought about Ichigo the part of his mind that contained what remained of his life as Arthas remarked that the boy was quite like he used to be; headstrong, righteous, always trying to do the right thing even if everyone else was against you. With the right 'push' and incentive perhaps he could be brought into his fold.

Stopping, the lich king thought about the events his spies had reported to him. With Fordring starting to stir up trouble south and the Alliance and Hordes pulling themselves together politically and militarily he would need to think of his plans more thoroughly. His awakening was still several months away and he could not afford for an invasion of Northrend while he was physically disabled. He would need a distraction to prevent such a move but for once he had no idea as to what to do. Perhaps, he pondered as a fierce ice storm blew in his mental plane, he would wait and see what happens. After all, even the most well thought out of plans is subject to the whims of fate.

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"What the hell is going on? Ashilda growled.

Moving around the large vrykul woman, Rukia gasped. The land north of Utgarde Keep was the site of a large-scale pitched battle between hundreds of vrykul warriors and a swarm of undead consisting of ghouls and geists with the majority of the fighting taking place on the single road leading to the entrance. The undead seemed to be putting everything they had into getting past the tenacious vrykul and breaching the keep. The vrykul seemed to realize this and started to concentrate the majority of their forces near the entrance.

While Rukia watched the battle she failed to notice a dozen protodrakes swarm out of the upper levels of Utgarde Keep. Startled by dozens of loud and deep roars, she craned her neck up and saw vrykul riding a multitude of dragon-like creatures down to the battle. As the protodrakes reached the ground, they would rear their heads back and let loose a breath attack that would either freeze or burn the undead attackers.

One of the vrykul riding a blue protodrake was not content with simply letting his mount do all the work. As his drake let loose its breath attack and froze the undead solid, he leaned over the side and smashed several of them with his large axe. Laughing loudly as his protodrake spiraled up into the air to get ready for another run he shouted, "Look alive my brothers! Show these cretins what happens to those that betray the vrykul!" The vrykul below him seemed to have heard and let loose a collective roar that caused Rukia to cringe slightly.

A frown marred Ashilda's face as she observed the scene, "Skadi's drakes will not be enough to turn the tide of this battle in our favor. His arrogance concerning his drakes will lead to his downfall. They will eventually tire while the undead will keep on coming. If we are to emerge the victories, we will need to prevent the undead from coming."

Turning around she grabbed Rukia and pushed her towards a warrior, "Come with me and watch over her as if she was your own daughter. I do not need to tell you how important it is that she remain safe." With a node from the warrior Ashilda turned to the remaining vrykul, "The rest of you, head to each and every vrykul settlement in the Fjord and tell about how the Lich King 'betrayed us.' It is vital that Wyrmskull is told as soon as possible so they can fortify the lower entrance."

As her guardian picked up Rukia, she squirmed with indignation, "Put me down! I'm not some weak child that cannot fight for herself!"

"Shut up and listen," Ashilda hissed, "You are far too important to the vrykul people to simply go into battle. I am sure that when you killed that val'kyr the Lich King was alerted to your presence. He can see and hear through each and every one of his undead. With the power you possess, he will do everything he can to eliminate you as a threat. Therefore you must remain hidden until we can guarantee your safety"

"But I-"

"Shut up!" Ashilda almost screamed, "Do you have any idea of the hope your power brings and what will happen to us if you are killed or worse? Your power seems to be an inherent weakness of the Lich King. When you killed that val'kyr, instead of its soul being reigned back in by him it was sent to the next world. Your very power is the antithesis of his entire being. He will not stop hunting you and everyone you associate with until you are destroyed!"

As Rukia solemnly watched her turn around and head towards the battlefield her guardian looked down and said, "Do not take her words to heart without a grain of salt young goddess. She is the high shaman, one of the most powerful in all of Northrend. While her words may seem selfish at times everything she does is for the benefit of every vrykul."

With Rukia being held back, Ashilda stalked towards the battlefield with a fury unmatched, her normally composed face twisted into a sneer that promised pain and misery for all that stood against her.

"You creatures…" bolts of lighting shoot from her hand at a group of ghouls, "…come and attempt to corrupt…" a glob of lava is thrown forward causing several giests to disintegrate into burning embers, "…and destroy what we have? Perish!"

Running towards the shoreline towards the river that separated the western road from the keep Ashilda cupped her hands together and breathed into them. Immediately a sigil appeared beneath her feet and she found herself rocketed into the air over the water towards the battle by an intense gust of wind. While this particular shamanistic spell was worthless for combat due to its lack of offensive capabilities, its ability to quickly and safely move the caster made it perfect for what she was about to do. As she approached the peak of her flight Ashilda thought back to what she was about to do.

When Skadi had swooped down earlier with his drakes she realized that unless the undead were physically unable to approach Utgarde then they would keep coming until they overran them. Accelerating back to the ground she muttered an incantation and twisted around and extended her hands, which were glowing a dull brown. As her palms barely touched the ground she shouted, "**Earthquake!"**

The moment she uttered that word her hands crushed the ground beneath her and a tremor extended radially outwards from her impact. The ground behind her vibrated and shook harshly, disorientating both the undead and vrykul fighting. The vrykul recovered from the spell quicker and proceeded to use the time given to cut down the undead by the dozens.

"**Lava Burst," **Ashilda said as she cupped one hand around her mouth. Blowing out through her hand, an intense stream of liquid metal and rock spewed northward towards the oncoming undead, blanketing them in thousand-degree material and dissolving them within seconds. Without stopping she turned her head back and forth, covering the entire route to Utgarde in lava and preventing the undead from traveling over it for at least a couple of hours.

Reinforcements cut off for the near future, the undead currently fighting were no match for the vengeful vrykul warriors, who began pushing them to the waters edge. While the undead were cut down with ease the ones surrounding Ashilda suffered the worst of them all. Even before the last of the lava had left her mouth she head already turned around and shouted, **"Thunderstorm!" **A large lightning bolt arched out of the sky and slammed into a single giest in front of her. Instead of stopping there, dozens of smaller bolts branched out and hit every other undead around her in a cacophony of lights.

As Rukia watched the battle her guardian looked over the water and asked, "You don't weigh more than 50 or 60 pounds right?"

"I beg your pardon?" she sputtered out.

Instead of responding he picked her up with one hand, "The high shaman, she needs you over there right now. This is the fastest way over since I cannot swim."

Recalling what Ichigo did to her during her rescue, she began to squirm, "Put me down! Do not do what you are thinking of doing!"

"Try to land on your feet," he said and with a heave through her across the river to the keep. Rukia sailed through the air over the water similar to that of Ashilda before spinning her body around and landing on her feet near the shaman, who was busy giving orders to the warriors.

"My spell will not deter the undead for long. I want you to go tell Ingvar to double up the patrols of the roads around the keep. If the undead have launched an all out assault we need to be ready."

"Of course high shaman."

She turned to another group of vrykul, "I want you to take at least fifty warriors and head down to Wyrmskull and fortify the lower entrance. I do not doubt the undead will attempt to breach our defenses there."

"As you wish high shaman," they bowed and turned around."

Craning her head up Ashilda shouted, "Skadi! I know you are still around!"

She didn't have to wait long before the frost vrykul came flying past before stopping and hovering near her, "I want you to fly up and inform Angerboda that the immediate danger from the undead has passed for the moment and that I will be arriving momentarily." With a clenched fist and a nod Skadi roared as his protodrake flew up towards the towers of Utgarde Keep.

As Ashilda finished giving her orders Rukia realized that the vrykul had begun to notice her. The shaman sensed this and moved to block them, "Do not assume that this girl is a simple human child, weak and scared. Do not also assume that the small blade she carries is worthless and poorly made. I have seen her use it to handle a val'kyr as if it were a petulant child."

"That is a bold claim from someone of such prestige as yourself Ashilda."

A female vrykul with dark ember hair that fell to the middle of her back walked out of crowd in front of Utgarde. She walked up to Ashilda and for a second Rukia thought that she was seeing double.

"My former apprentice," Ashilda sighed, "Your reach extends your grasp as always Svala,"

Svala snorted, "I am only your former apprentice because you did not want to be associated with someone willing to follow the Lich King. How was I supposed to know that he would betray us like this?"

"You of all vrykul should know, "Ashilda calmed replied, "That someone with the power over souls would not need living subjects who can think for themselves when he could just as easily kill and raise them to be obedient whenever he wanted."

As the master and former apprentice talked Rukia found herself involuntarily letting out a shudder. A chill had just wafted through the air and something about it just seemed to bug her. There was something off about place that she couldn't put her finger on and whatever it was she was quite certain that it had to do with her.

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**Authors Notes:**

Here is the first full and complete chapter about Rukia. If you read the first part you will see that it is a mostly rewritten telling of my previous segment with the battle between Rukia and the Val'kyr. The second fight was designed to help show the power that Ashilda, the high shaman of the Vrykul, possesses. One does not get that much respect and prestige from those half-giants without some power besides words. As to the longer chapters about a single character I find that it is better in the long run because it helps me to expand on each individual storyline without having to worry about reaching a world deadline (I would shoot for ~2500 words per character in Chapters 9 through 11). On another note I am going through how to name the chapters so if you see them change that is just me.

**Abilities Used**

**Earthquake: **The shaman uses their connection to the earth to create a localized earthquake around them to disorientate and knock over their enemies.

**Lava Burst: **The shaman cups a hand around their mouth and uses their connections to fire and earth to create a stream of molten rock capable of melting anything and everything in their path.

**Thunderstorm: **Using their connection to wind, the shaman quickly and violently creates a build up of static electricity in the air around one enemy that causes a large lightning bolt to strike them before instantaneously branching out and hitting every other nearby target.

_Tell your friends about this story. Read and Review._

_~Bahamut_Reishiki_


	14. Chapter 14: Chad I

**I do not own the characters, ideas, and/or places from either Bleach or World of Warcraft and their respective universes. Tite Kubo and Blizzard® own them respectively. Any original characters in the story belong to me. Any comparisons to other fan fiction or series characters are entirely coincidental and not intentional.**

Hello - Normal Speech

_Hello_ – Normal Thought

**Hello** – Spells Cast/ Demons / Titans/ Inner Hollow/ Dragons / Arrancar Released Form

_**Hello**_ – Thoughts of Demons / Titans/ Inner Hollow/ Dragons / Arrancar Released Form

**I love reviews. To see that someone took the time to log in (or not) and criticize my work is fantastic. I don't care if the review is positive or negative as long as they give good reasons for their response I'm happy. I have gotten reviews that pointed out plot holes, questions I didn't answer, or simply things that I forgot.**

**PM or say in a review whether you prefer this method: One character per chapter or my earlier method. Depending on what is said I will go back and add material to the earlier sections (Chapters 9 – 11) in order to make them full-blown chapters.**

**AUTHOR NOTE #1: **I may make a chapter containing all of my Original Characters in order to give more history about them. Do note, if I do that, that it would always be a work in progress. I will not give information about them that I have not already written in my story.

**AUTHOR NOTE #2: **Just so all you reviewers and readers know, this chapter is ENTIRELY NEW! No reused material here. It is all brand new with new characters and stuff.

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**Secret of the Dragonflights Arc**

**Chapter 14: The Symbol of Hastar**

Chad had to duck slightly to fit through the corridor leading to Tinker Town. It was strange sight, when he set off to find this place he thought it would be somewhat difficult to find. Once he started getting closer, however, it became obvious that he was heading in the right direction. As he approached Tinker Town, more and more strange and overly complicated gadgets and machinery started lining the walls of the city as well as the various households and shops. In fact, the final tunnel leading to it was filling with rotating machines that seemed to have no purpose whatsoever.

Stretching his back out as he exited the corridor, Chad looked around to find his bearings. Walking around were dozens of small men and women with some of the strangest color hair. While he did see several such people when he entered the city earlier, the sheer quantity in front of him confused him for a moment.

He must have been standing around for longer than he thought because a slightly high-pitched but commanding voice spoke up from his right, "Is there something I can help you with sir? You are blocking the passageway into Tinker Town."

Chad glanced down at the Gnomeragan guard, who was doing his best to look intimidating. Easily shrugging off the glare, he moved to the side of the passageway and looked around, "Yes, perhaps you can help me. I'm looking for someone in particular."

The guard grumbled a little before he sighed, "While it would be easier to find a directory and simply _look_ up the person's address, I will try and assist you."

"I think his name was Grazzle or something like that."

The gnome's face hardened before he, with a surprising amount of strength for such a small body, grabbed Chad's wrist and dragged him off to a isolated stretch of Tinker Town, "For what reason do you seek Grazzle? Speak truthfully or you might find yourself missing a hand."

Chad silently stared at the gnome as he made his threat. While he was sure the gnome wouldn't be able to do any real damage that he could avoid, he saw that even if he could disarm the guard, another gnome would probably see it. The last thing he wanted was to be on the run from an entire city's worth of guards, especially after just arriving on this world and all.

"I was sent by someone to find and talk to him."

"By whom?"

"A strange woman who called herself Gamara."

"Liar!" the gnome seethed, "If you did indeed talk to her, she would have left a calling card!"

"A calling card? Like a note or something?"

"No, nothing that can be as easily forged as that. I am referring to her unique method of authenticity. From what we know of her, she marks each and every person she sees so that those she trusts can verify their story."

"A mark?" Chad asked, "What kind of a mark?"

The guard lowered his voice as he walked around Chad as if he was searching for something, "Gamara is a fickle woman; always suspicious of those deals with. So she came up with a clever scheme befitting of a gnome of the high intellect. She marks those that she helps with a glowing sigil only visible to those not seeking her out. If you did indeed meet her, she would have touched you somewhere. A simple tap with a finger would have been all that is required to cast the spell."

As the gnome scrutinized him, Chad recalled the end of his encounter with Gamara when she was literally trying to shove him out the door. At the time it seemed sort of strange for her to do such a thing when he would have walked out on his own but with what the gnome said, that may have been when she marked him, "Could you check near my shoulders? I think that is what you are looking for."

The gnome nodded before putting on a pair of glowing red goggles, "Aha! Here it is, right above your left scapula. Sorry about the suspicion, can't be too careful when dealing with that woman."

"So will you help me now that you believe me?"

"Yes, I will help you just do not say her name again." The gnome looked around, focusing on several pedestrians intently before turning back to Chad, "There are those on Azeroth who will do anything to find her, and I mean anything. If you are going to talk about her, it would be simply to do so in the third person to avoid any…avoidable eavesdroppers."

"How do you know so much about her? Aren't you just a city guard?"

"I am," the gnome nodded, "But there are those in the Ironforge guard that she has personally entrusted with knowing about her. How do you think I found you so easily once you entered Tinker Town? Of course I saw the sigil as soon as I saw you. I played the part of a disbelieving guard in order to see how you would react and I must say, she did put her trust in the right person."

"Can you help me find Grazzle then?"

"I know where he lives so I can give you directions. Unfortunately I will not be able to bring you there myself since I now have bigger issues to deal with, which I think you are somehow involved in."

"How is that possible?"

"That is a good question but I don't know the answer to it. On a more important note, did you mention anything you and her talked about to anyone else?"

Cupping his chin, Chad thought back and remembered that night elf that he met almost as soon as he left Gamara's shop, "Yes, I do remember meeting someone."

"You did?" the gnome asked nervously, "When did you meet her? What questions did she ask?"

"I met her almost immediately after leaving her shop. At the time, I thought it was a coincidence, but now I am not so certain."

"What are you saying?"

Chad didn't answer the gnome's inquiry immediately as he tried to piece together what was going on, "At the time she simply seemed interested in meeting her. However, now that I think about it the questions she asked were rather specific."

"For the love of the Titans, did you tell her anything?"

"No, I managed to make up a believable story. At least I think I did."

Pulling out a handkerchief, the guard wiped the sweat off his brow. "Good, that's good. You will be able to find Grazzle's workshop about five minutes down the road on the left. If you will excuse me, I need to make haste to the guard barracks. The situation has to be contained as quickly as possible."

"Is it that serious?"

"Nothing ever good comes from people asking questions about her. The mysterious thing about it is that they always pop up almost immediately after she meets someone. Most of the time we catch and protect her clients before it occurs but every now and then…"

Chad nodded, fully understanding what the gnome was implying, "Don't worry, I'll be careful."

The gnome guard had already started to walk away before calling back, "If you ever need assistance just ask for me. I'm Dugnus Mithrilgear, acting commander of the Gnomeregan Exile guards."

Several minutes of walking and getting lost found Chad standing outside a mostly empty workshop filled with the sounds of tinkering and machines working. Letting out a sigh, he rapped his knuckles several times on the door. He did not have to wait long before the door opened with a hiss of steam and a short, pink-haired gnome appeared.

"Can I help you?"

"Are you Grazzle Arctwister?"

The gnome removed the glowing blue goggles from his eyes and perched them on his forehead. Stroking his pink beard, he let out a small chuckle, "Not many people, be they night elves, dwarves, or humans, comes to my shop these days. Since you are here and are looking for me by name, I can imply you are here for me and not for one of my inventions or products?"

"Gamara said you could help me."

Grazzle turned around and walked back into his shop. He started rummaging through a toolbox on the bench beside him before he responded, "Ah, so that is what this is all about. Did she say anything specific about what she wanted you to come to me for?"

"No."

The gnome stared up at Chad for a moment before shrugging and turning back to his workbench, "I suppose you are a man of few words. While you're here, could you do me a favor and hook up that machine over there to that cart? I need to have it ready to be moved to the shop across the road."

Grazzle turned back to his workbench and went back to work while he waited for Chad to finish hooking it up. When he heard sounds of metal groaning before quickly quieting down, he assumed it was simply random noise from one of the other workshops. When Chad walked over with the heavy machine held aloft with one hand on his shoulder, his goggles slid off his face in shock.

"Where would you like me to put this?"

Grazzle tried to come up with an answer but all that he came out was, "But…how…not possible…muscle density cannot…sheer weight should…"

Chad didn't move for a second before asking another question, "Perhaps it would be better if you could point to where you want it."

Grazzle Arctwister raised a hand and pointed to the workshop across the road filled with a dozen working gnomes. Nodding his head in thanks, Chad ducked his head as he left the shop and walked across the road to deliver the equipment. Along the way he was the subject of dozens of pairs of wide-eyed gnomes and dwarves with the former trying to calculate how Chad was doing what he was doing and the latter believing that they had a bit too much to drink.

As he put his package down in the workshop without any sign of fatigue, Chad turned to Grazzle, "Perhaps now is a good time to talk."

"Wha-?" Grazzle asked before he composed himself. He let out a cough in embarrassment before continuing, "Um…yes! Let us return to my workshop to continue our discussion."

The duo made their way back to the workshop where Grazzle proceeded to close and lock the door, "We can talk freely now that we have our privacy. What is it you are here for?"

"I'm not really sure. All Gamara said was that you would be able to help me."

"She said that?" Grazzle puzzled as he wrung his hands together. Suddenly his eyes lit up as he raced around his shop looking for something, "Could she have…no, not possible…but no other alternative…"

Chad watched as Grazzle climbed onto a desk, scattering papers everywhere. Grabbing a large rolled up parchment, he jumped back onto the ground and opened it, exposing a large map that covered nearly the entire desk. When Grazzle motioned with a hand to join him, Chad walked over and saw that the map was covered in many scribbles, words, pinholes, and a large amount of circled areas.

"What is this a map of?"

"This, my friend, is a map of my exploits or rather those of the association I belong to. Each circled area is a potential excavation sites based upon historical evidence that we found."

"If she sent you to me then she is as well informed as the rumors say," Grazzle said as he traced a path on the map. Stopping his finger over a section of the map to the east, he tapped it a few times before continuing, "Do you see Loch Modan here? A dwarf friend of mine by the name of Ironband recently acquired a small excavation site to the southeast in search of Titan artifacts that he soon expanded upon. Problems began with the site almost immediately afterwards."

"Problems?"

"It is quite hard to explain since it doesn't follow all logic. Soon after work started, Ironband's men found a large cylindrical door sealed tight and inscribed with a dialect unfamiliar to every linguist in the Alliance and several in the Horde. Several days later, workers started leaving in droves after claiming to hear voices and seeing shadows around the camp. They said they wouldn't return to work without proper protection."

"And that is what you want me to do?"

"Oh no! I wouldn't entrust the protection of an entire dig to a single human that looks as if he has never picked up a weapon in his entire life. Besides, how would you guard someone in just clothes? You would need armor…a large set of armor if my initial measurement of your size are accurate. You are to guard Ionbrand himself as he makes his way back to the dig. He's been in Ironforge for the last several days petitioning for protection and I think this is what Gamara wanted you to do."

Grazzle turned and rummaged through one of his cluttered cabinets before pulling out a sheet of paper. Quickly making several notes on it, he started to ask Chad several random questions.

"Can you perform any magic from the known schools?"

"Magic?"

"…Uh huh. I probably already know the answer to this but do you prefer to fight close-quarters or from far away?"

"Up close I guess."

"Good, good. What is your preferred style of weapon? Sword, mace, axe, or spear for example."

"My hands."

"Your hands?"

"Yes."

"Interesting choices. You can find Ironband in the Great Library in the Hall of Explorers. If you have trouble seeing him, just wait around and he will make himself known soon enough. Now if you will excuse me, I need to go see a client of mine, Craghelm's Plate and Chain. He owes me a few favors and I intend to have him make you a set of armor."

"I'm fine without armor."

"Nonsense. Either you get this armor or I will not help you."

"…Ok."

"Great! By the time you leave Ironforge, Craghelm will have it done and delivered to you."

"But I don't have any money."

Grazzle waved him off, "Don't worry about money. Like I said, Craghelm's shop owes me a couple of favors and thus this will be free. Once you get finished escorting Ironband, you will have enough gold for a short while. Now move along, we're wasting time."

Chad sighed in defeat as he exited Grazzle's shop in order to find his way to this Great Library or whatever it was called. While he could probably survive pretty well without armor, after seeing and hearing some of the things that existed on Azeroth, it was probably better to be on the safe side.

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When he finally found the Hall of Explorers after several dead ends and a hilarious encounter with someone fishing in an underground pool, Chad saw that he was expected.

Several figures, sitting and standing outside the hall, looked up as he walked towards them. Two of them were familiar, since he met them only earlier that day but the others were new to him. One of the draenei seemed to be shocked to see him and exclaimed, "It's you!"

Chad pointed to himself, "Yes, it's me."

"No you idiot! What are you doing here?"

"I was sent here," he replied, "Why are you here?"

"It's my job," she huffed.

Sheepishly rubbing his head, he apologized, "Sorry about that…err…"

"My name is Kolona! How could you have forgotten in only a few hours?"

He simply shrugged, "Sorry."

"Come now Kolona," Dulir said as he placed his hand on her shoulder, "I'm sure he didn't do it on purpose."

"Besides he seems nice," the night elf in the blue robe sitting on the floor softely added.

"Move aside," a deep voice growled. Pushing past the draenei was a slightly nervous-looking dwarf. "You must be Chad. I got a letter from Grazzle an hour ago to expect you. Took your sweet time I see. What the hell took you so long? Did you get lost or something?"

"Yes."

"Now that everyone has arrived, follow me," Ironband said gruffly and turned to walk inside the Hall of Explorers. As the dwarf moved through and past several large fossils that resembled dinosaurs, Chad saw that besides the three people waiting outside with him there were now two more walking with the group. The first one caused Chad to double take to make sure he wasn't seeing things. She, or at least Chad thought she was a she, looked like a walking corpse and was draped in robes that shifted from light to dark purple. The second person was covered from head to toe in a black and dark red robe, spiked shoulder guards, and a hood that showed only two red pinpricks where his eyes would be.

The group of six followed Ironband as he entered the back of the hall and approached two Ironforge guards that were armed to the teeth. When they attempted to stop him, Ironband reached into his coat and pulled out a piece of paper. When the guards saw it they immediately straightened and turned and walked away from each other, allowing the group to pass.

Beyond the door was a stone hallway with several doors on each side. Ironband walked to one and pushed it open with an audible creak. Before he walked inside he turned and said, "What are you waiting for? We don't have all day you know?"

As Chad entered the room he saw that the only things inside was a large table and about a dozen chairs. As the last person walked inside Ironband turned and slammed the door shut before turning the several locks on the door.

Pocketing the keys, he turned and chuckled, "I'm sure more than one of you are curious as to the secrecy I am taking."

The forsaken walked over to one of the chairs and sat down, with the warlock silently sitting next to her. Putting her feet up on the table she asked, "As a matter of fact I am quite curious. I don't know many dwarves that would specifically ask for a forsaken's help."

Kolona leaned against the wall and folded her arms, her eyes never leaving the forsaken woman, "This secrecy is highly disturbing Ironband. Back rooms and soundproof walls indicate something that is either highly illegal or very dangerous. So…" she trailed off with narrowed glowing eyes shifting to the dwarf, "…which is it?"

"Calm down Kolona," Dulir said with a hearty laugh as he sat down across from the forsaken mage, "I'm sure this dwarf did not ask for us to come here just to commit a crime."

"You can calm down draenei. I'm only using this room because what needs to be said here is highly secret."

"If it's so secret," the forsaken mocked as she jerked a thumb to the warlock next to her, "Why did you invite him?"

Instead of responding, or saying anything really, the warlock turned his hooded red eyes to the mage, who simply smirked back at him.

The sole night elf in the group, a priest by the state of her armor, sat down next to Dulir. "I'm confused," she said timidly, "I was told that this was a simply routine escort mission. Aren't we just supposed to guard you until you reach your dig site in Loch Modan?"

"You're Lindariel right?" Kolona asked. When the night elf nodded in affirmation, the paladin looked around the room, "She brings up an excellent point. I know each and every one here by their reputation and skills except for the human. Having so many skilled warriors is overkill for an escort mission. What is really going on here Ironband?"

"Trust me," Ironband said, "Chad here comes highly recommended by an esteemed colleague for what I require. In fact, each and every one of you here was purposely told a lie in order to get you to come."

The warlock seemed to shift subtlety in his chair but the forsaken spoke, "My friend here has a point. Why should we help you if our contract was falsified to begin with?"

"I did lie, but it was for a extremely good reason. I needed you all to come here and if I told the truth I was uncertain you all would."

Kolona growled and pushed off the wall, "Come on Dulir, we are leaving. I will not work for a dishonorable employer."

"You can't do that!" Ironband demanded.

The draenei paladin walked to the dwarf until she was towering over him, "And why not?"

Ironband's seemed to be conflicted about something before he deflated, "You can't leave because your leaders are the ones that made the contracts."

"Bullshit!" the forsaken shouted, "Lady Sylvanas would never do this to me!"

"Why would Lady Tyrande lie and send me across the world?" Lindariel softly said to herself.

"I doubt," Kolona angrily said as she picked Ironband off the floor, "Velen would ever have done what you just said he did."

Ironband coughed harshly in paladin's steel grip, "If you let me explain your actual mission then you would understand all the secrecy."

Kolona stood there a few more seconds before reluctantly letting go of the dwarf. Turning she walked to the table and sat on the opposite side of Dulir.

Ironband let out a few more coughs as he got back onto his feet, "When my situation was explained to Magni Bronzebeard, he sent out couriers to each of your leaders detailing specifics about the danger I uncovered."

Speaking up for the first time since entering the room Chad said, "If these leaders felt the need to lie to get the job done then whatever you found must have been extremely dangerous."

"You have no idea, human, what I found there. But in order for you to fully understand my predicament I need to start at the beginning."

The forsaken clapped, "Such an excellent idea! We all know exactly why we were betrayed but let us hear the tale once more."

Ironband glared at the mage before scoffing, "It all began roughly three weeks ago. We were unearthing some ancient architecture when a large hole roughly thirty feet opened up. Eager to see what was down there, I sent several men on ropes with torches down the hole. It continued straight down about two hundred feet before opening up into a large antechamber with nothing written on the walls. There was one thing down there…a door."

"A door?" Dulir pondered.

He nodded, "The door was roughly fifty feet across and perfectly circular. After using a couple dozen torches to light up the entire chamber we saw that the circumference of the door was covered in a language I, nor anyone else there, was able to decipher."

For the first time since meeting her Chad saw the forsaken look serious. Leaning forward onto her exposed elbows, she asked, "What do you mean?"

Ironband gave an exasperated shrug, "I have no clue. It didn't resemble the titan language. I crossed checked it against all dwarven, human, troll, elf, tauren and about a dozen other languages and their dialects and found nothing. Whatever was written on that door either predates the titans or was written by something other than the titans."

At this point the dwarf seemed to shudder as he reached for something in his vest, "The language was bad enough but there was a feeling of wrongness about the whole door that wanted me to just bury the chamber and act as if I never found the place to begin with." He finished by pulling out a large folded up piece of paper and laying it on the table. As the group of six gathered as Ironband unfolded it, Chad let out an almost unnoticeable gasp.

There were no words on the paper, only a very familiar symbol that he saw but a few hours ago. On the paper were three lines connected at their ends. One was straight, the second curved, and the third resembled a question mark.

"A ten foot diameter version of this symbol was etched into the very center of the door. When I had it traced out in order to study it above ground, every bone in my body seemed to shiver as if something about this symbol repulsed it."

The reaction of every other person in the room varied. Dulir and Kolona seemed slightly interested. Lindariel was curious and traced it with one finger as she tried to decipher what it meant. The forsaken mage seemed to be deep in thought, as if she was trying to remember a barely hidden memory. The warlock showed the most emotion, even if Chad could not see it. He stood up so fast that his chair fell over as he stared intently at the symbol, as if he was trying to burn a hole through it.

"As you can see," Ironband stated, "Even if you all have never seen it before you each have varying reactions to it."

"Hastar."

The entire room turned to Chad. "What did you say?" Ironband asked.

"The symbol," Chad said as he recollected what Gamara's book showed him and motioned with a hand to the paper, "It is a symbol concerning something called Hastar."

"Hastar…" Ironband trailed off, "I don't believe I have ever heard of such a name or thing. Is there anything else you might know about it?"

"There is a name for it," Chad hesitantly said.

"Well, spit it out!" Kolona grumbled as Dulir attempted to calm her down.

"A little while ago I spoke with someone. They had a book that contained this symbol with Hastar written next to it. Before I left, she told me not to say its name and at the time I thought she meant Hastar, but I was mistaken."

"Mistaken?" the forsaken asked.

Chad nodded, "Yes. Below the symbol were two barely legible handwritten words. Since what she told me to do has led me here, I believe you all should know the name of that symbol. I believe it is called the 'Yellow Sign.'"

The well-lit room seemed to immediately darken at Chad's words. As the group looked around, the room became deathly silent and the candles lining the walls seemed to move in an impossible breeze, with several of them snuffing out entirely. The shadows around the room began to sway and flicker as if they were flames with some of them turning into impossible shapes.

"What is going on?" Kolona questioned as she stood up and started to draw her sword with Dulir copying her.

"This is wrong, very wrong," Lindariel said with fear in her voice.

"Something is tugging at my soul," the forsaken muttered loudly enough for everyone to hear, "I don't like it."

An unearthly glow from beneath the thick stone door stopped everyone's thoughts. The pale orange light from the candles in the hall was slowly replaced by a bright yellow light that seemed to come from down the hallway and was getting closer. The room started to vibrate and shake as it did so, causing the lights and shadows to flicker even more.

"What the hell is happening?" Ironband said as he quickly backed away from the door.

As every other person got ready to fight whatever was approaching, Chad's mind was attempting to figure out what was happening. _"Whatever is coming is related to the symbol but it can't be since it didn't start until I mentioned the name…name…the name!"_

"We have to destroy the symbol!" he shouted.

"Destroy it? Why?" Ironband asked.

"Talking is over. Time for action!" the forsaken said as she launched a miniature fireball at the paper, incinerating it.

Immediately after the last ashes disappeared the yellow light vanished and everything seemed to go back to normal. No one relaxed though as Kolona approached the door.

"Kolona what are you doing?" Dulir asked shocked.

"Ironband hand me the keys," she said ignoring her partner. As the dwarf threw the keys over the table from across the room, Kolona put unlocked each lock and prepared to open the door.

"Everyone move away from the entrance, Dulir come with me, Lindariel stay near the mage and warlock, who will provide fire support. Chad, I am going to open the door a small crack and when I do, peer through the slit and tell me what you see."

With everyone knowing his or her roles, Kolona nodded to Dulir, who leaned against the door as she opened it. As soon as it was possible Chad looked out into the hallway and found nothing out of the ordinary.

Grabbing the door and forcing it open even with Dulir leaning against it, Chad walking out into the hall and scratched his head in confusion. Whatever was out here was gone and what was stranger was the dwarf guard at the end of the hall seemed to have noticed nothing out of the ordinary.

"Did you see anything just now?" Chad asked the guard.

"Nope, just the normal nothing," he replied.

With the mystery deepening, Chad reentered the room and closed the door, which Kolona quickly relocked. "There was nothing strange out there. The guard in the hall even said nothing had happened."

"Bullshit," the forsaken said with her usually etiquette, "We all saw that light and rumbling in the hall."

"What if we saw it because Chad said that name?" Lindariel questioned.

Deciding enough was enough, the warlock finally spoke up, "If I may be so bold as to interrupt this line of questioning, there is one thing that the rest of you are missing and which Chad has only just graced the surface of." When he saw that he had everyone's attention he continued, "Let's look at the facts. We all saw that symbol and had different reactions to it. The draenei seemed only mildly interested in it, the night elf was curious about it, Erumal here felt as if she had a memory if it even if she never saw it before and as for me, I felt as if it was just wrong, as if its existence was an anathema to everything around it."

The warlock sat back down as he explained his line of thought, "However, besides causing a general feeling of unease in the room the symbol did nothing. It was not until Chad mentioned its true name that the effects started. So my hypothesis is that the symbol and name are a combination for a summoning ritual."

"For what?" Erumal asked.

"I do not know but what I do understand is that what we saw and felt was only an astral manifestation of the creature or being. Whatever its true form is, it is infinitely more powerful than what we experienced and I believe our dwarf friend here knows more than he has told us."

Seeing the entire room glare at him, Ironband groaned as he sat down, "After getting the etching of that symbol I left the antechamber and returned to my tent above ground to study it in the hopes of understanding what it meant. In the mean time I had the chamber vacated with about a dozen workers guarding it around the clock."

"Why would you need people guarding it if no one knew about it?" Kolona asked.

Ironband shook his head, "They thought it was to guard the chamber against looters but when I assigned them the job my purpose was for them to be a first alert in case anything comes out of the chamber."

"How could you have known something would come out?" Erumal wondered.

"There is something I did not tell you earlier. When I was looking at the door, I was the only one that seemed perturbed by it. Every single one of my workers was entranced by it, as if it was the discovery of the century. While it probably is, their amazement scared me and it took everything I had to get them to leave the chamber. The problems started that night."

Chad seemed to reach a conclusion about what Ironband was about to say and asked, "Was it similar to what we just experienced?"

"Similar and at the same time not. That night about a quarter of my two hundred workers had identical nightmares. The following night, half of my workers had the same nightmare and by the fourth night all but myself and a few of my overseers were having the same nightmare."

The warlock seemed to be hanging on every one of Ironband's words, "What were the nightmares about?"

Ironband shook his head, "They could not tell me. When they had the nightmares, they would wake up screaming and crying about something only to forget about it and act normal for the rest of the day."

"What did they scream?" Erumal asked, even though she really did not want to know the answer.

"I only got bits and pieces but the recurring elements were: the shepherd, the unspeakable one, and the one that scared me the most was the yellow king."

The lights only flickered for a second before returning to normal. When they did everyone let out a collective sigh of relief.

"I've experienced something vaguely similar to this a few decades ago," Lindariel said, "There was an extremely powerful satyr near Auberdine and every night he would use his abilities to give a family of three night elves identical nightmares in order to feed on their life energy, in order to grow stronger. The problem was that it needed to use almost all of its mana in an extremely complex ritual in order to do so. That almost two hundred people could be affected for more than four days fills me with dread."

"Once the nightmares started I knew that whatever was behind that door realized that there were people nearby and was trying to manipulate them." He sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose, "If only it ended at the nightmares."

For some reason Chad found a bead of nervous sweat trickled down his face, "It got worse?"

"That is the understatement of the year. If you mean worse as in my workers started disappearing than yes."

Dulir seemed confused, "How could they just disappear? Weren't you watching them?"

Ironband cringed as he replied, "Disappearing I could deal with. It was what we found afterwards that caused me to flee here for help. When the first few vanished I assumed that they left because they were unable to deal with what was going on and who could blame them, I would have left too. I started with over two hundred workers and when the twentieth vanished in two nights I got suspicious. For one night I ordered all my workers to sleep together and for twenty men to guard them. The next morning the guards were all fine but five more workers were gone, vanished from where they slept."

The warlock picked up on something and asked, "You mentioned that you found something afterwards. What was it?"

Ironband nervously gripped his hands together, "For each worker that disappeared and etching, tally mark, symbol, I don't know what the fuck it was would appear on the door. It was as if whatever was behind that door was counting down to something. Each of the marks was evenly spaced and one of my gnome overseers did some calculations and discovered that it would take a total of 549 marks to complete the circle. When I fled it was at 115.

Erumal groaned, "I think I see why you wanted us you bastard."

"We have to stop whatever is behind that door before it completes itself and we have to do it soon because I don't think there is only one door."

That last line got everyone's attention.

"You really shouldn't leave out important details dwarf," the warlock growled, "What did you forget to tell us this time?"

"I said the walls were bare but there was a diagram on the floor that showed another door. At least we don't have to worry about that other door."

"Why not?"

"Because if that door was close to opening, then whatever it is we're dealing with wouldn't be so intent on breaking through here."

This seemed to be the breaking point for Lindariel, who quickly got up and made for the door, "I didn't sign up for something like this!"

Ironband moved quicker than Chad expected and beat her to the door, "Look here. If I could I would not go back there but whatever is there is strong and getting stronger now that I've awoken it. You saw what just happened. If it is powerful enough to come after us sealed what will happen when it breaks out? If you leave now you will doom Azeroth. I set about these events and damn it I will fix my mistake!"

Once it was clear Lindariel was no longer about to leave, Ironband moved away from the door, "It is true that you have to escort me to my excavation site but your real job starts once you get there. You are to find a way to stop whatever is behind that door. While each of you is among the best of your professions, there are a few of you that I called here for a reason. Erumal, your superb expertise with the arcane allows you to feel the ebbs and flow of mana enabling you to see hidden spells and seals. Lindariel, your expertise concerning demonic abilities and effects will allow you to help counteract any spells this thing has. You are one of the best paladins when it comes to demon hunting, Kolona. That will allow you to sense whatever is there and hopefully track its movements."

"Ok," Kolona said as she clapped her hands together, "I think we can all leave now. I for one need some fresh air."

The warlock walked forward and out the now open door, "Agreed. Let's meet near the front of Ironforge in an hour to leave. But I must make a suggestion. If you do anything do so with other people around, who knows what awaits us that are found alone now that we know what we are dealing with. Let's go Erumal."

Kolona and Dulir left after the mage and warlock, leaving only Chad, Lindariel and Ironband. Extending a hand out to the night elf Chad said, "Would you like to come with me? I have to meet someone to pick up some armor and I believe you should not be alone right now."

"I would like that," she nodded and followed Chad out of the room.

Ironband left with them but before leaving turned around to lock the door. As he closed the door and began to lock it his short stature allowed him to look through one of the keyholes and what he saw caused him to immediately bolt after Chad and Lindariel in fright, totally forgetting about locking the door.

"Wait for me!"

Sitting in a chair facing the door was a figure wrapped entire in a yellow robe with a matching sash around its waist and a hood and cowl covering its face. As he ran past the bewildered guard after Chad, Ironband could have sworn the figure he saw was not its true form, that what he saw was only what his mind could comprehend.

And it was looking straight at him.

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...

* * *

Chad stood near the entrance to Ironforge and for the life of him couldn't figure out where Lindariel was getting all her energy. As soon as they left the Hall of Explorers, she seemed to perk up immediately and started pestering him with questions. When he asked her why she was acting so hyper she replied that she was only 145 years old, a teenage by night elf standards.

"Where do your powers come from?"

"From my abuelo."

"Abuelo?"

"My grandfather."

She blinked, "I don't understand."

Clenching his fist, Chad explained, "My grandfather was a powerful man, but he was also very kind and compassionate. When I was a child I was unruly and violent. Eventually he showed me that true power comes not from strength or abilities but by using what you have to protect those precious to you. That is why I will never use my power for my own gain. They will only ever be used to protect those precious to me, like my friends."

"That is sweet," Lindariel replied with a sad smile, "If only my father was-"

"Mr. Chad! I'm looking for a Mr. Chad."

Chad stood up and looked around and saw a dwarf standing on a cart with a pile of boxes nearby. Raising an arm he said, "I'm Chad."

The dwarf noticed him and ordered the rams pulling the cart to move towards him, "Hello Mr. Chad. I am Craghelm and I am bringing you your special custom Onslaught Armor, mark 6."

"Mark 6?" Chad asked as he easily picked one of the boxes off the cart and started to open it.

"It's the sixth version of this particular armor model. Even six months or so we come out with a new and better model than the last, offering a little more protection each time. This here is our current pride and joy and I don't foresee a new model coming for at least a year, maybe more," Craghelm replied with pride.

As Craghelm explained about the armor, Chad looked it over. It was comprised mostly of a dark brown metal that he could tell without even putting it on would be very effective at defensive and with the spiked shoulder guards, he would look very intimidating indeed. As he put the armor on and finished tightening his gauntlets over his wrists, he felt the need to test out his abilities in the armor. Flexing his hand and making a fist he punched the ground, forming a small crater with large cracks radiating out from it.

"This will be fine," he muttered.

Craghelm was not as pleased as Chad and several of the nearby guards were not as well, "Hey don't go breaking the city just to make sure it works. I made this armor myself. I know it works." Reaching over for the helm, he attempted to give it to Chad who refused to take it.

"Sorry, but I don't wear hats."

"It's not a hat, it's a helm. It's made to protect your head."

Chad shook his head, "I don't wear hats."

Craghelm attempted to give him the helm one last time but when he saw that Chad was not going to back down, gave up. Tucking the helm under his arm, he climbed back onto the wagon and had his rams bring it back to his shop.

"Hello Chad and if it isn't Lindariel. I see we're not the first ones to arrive."

Chad turned and saw Erumal and the still unnamed warlock, "And you are?"

The warlock chuckled, "I see no need to give out my name at this time."

Chad shrugged before Erumal whistled, if that was even possible, "My day has been rotten, no pun intended, since arriving in Ironforge. Guards following me wherever I go, can't go near food stalls and we have an all-powerful being chasing after us like an obsessed boyfriend. But seeing you in that snazzy armor just makes my day seem so much better." Moving her thumb and finger so they made a picture frame she finished with, "You look absolutely hot."

Not liking the look she was giving him Chad turned to the warlock, who sighed and proceeded to slap the back of her head. Grumbling, she rubbed it and asked, "What the hell was that for?"

"You were being inappropriate."

"I'm undead. I'm surrounded by rotten corpses all day long so you can allow me to indulge myself in viewing the opposite sex every once in a while thank you very much!"

A loud boisterous laughter caused them to stop arguing. "There is nothing like a lover's quarrel," Dulir said. Before he could say anything else he was forced to dodge an arcane missile, courtesy of Erumal.

"Shut the fuck up," she said, "Or I won't miss next time!"

"Calm down," Kolona interjected. Erumal was about to argue when the paladin elbowed Dulir in the stomach, causing him to sputter and cough, "You need to think before you say anything Dulir. You somehow always say the most inappropriate comments."

"Sorry."

Half an hour passed for the six of them as they waited near the entrance. Eventually it was Lindariel that spoke up and asked the question that they were all wondering, "Where is Ironband? Wasn't he supposed to meet us here over an hour ago?"

"He was," Erumal agreed before turning to the warlock and adding, "Something's not right."

"I agree," he said, "Kolona, please be a dear and go inform one of the guards that Prospector Ironband is missing. Dulir accompany her and do not leave her side."

"What do you think happened?" she asked before leaving.

The warlock shook his head, "Hopefully he just got delayed but if the worst has come to pass than he is gone. Even if that is the case we still have to go and complete the mission. We all know what will happen if we don't."

When five heads nodded in agreement and the draenei left, the warlock pointed at Chad and said, "Do you mind talking with me for a second? Erumal watch Lindariel while we are gone."

At a far enough distance, the warlock looked around and quietly asked, "Between you and me what do you think happened to Ironband?"

As quietly as he was asked Chad shook his head and responded, "I don't think he is coming."

"We really shouldn't have gotten involved in this mess."

"The consequences of failing and letting it get loose would be worse," Chad added.

The warlock nodded and added before turning to walk back towards the mage and priest, "We wait for the draenei to return and then two hours for Ironband to show up. If he doesn't then we assume he is gone and we head out immediately. If he is truly gone, then whatever got him is in the city and therefore Ironforge is not longer safe."

As Chad followed the warlock he suddenly bumped into him, causing him to stumble back slightly in his armor. Before he could ask what was wrong, the warlock quietly motioned for Chad, the mage and the priest to come over.

"What's the matter?" Erumal asked, "What do you want with-"

"Look closely," he whispered, "Over the ridge directly out from the entrance and do not make any sign you see it."

It took the three of them a minute but when they finally saw it would have gasped if they did not remember what they were just told.

It was in the distance, about half a mile from the entrance to the city on a ridge overlooking the road that winds down the mountain. In a yellow robe that covered its entire body and head and facing them, the four knew that it was looking directly at them.

"It can't be…" Chad trailed off.

"What the fuck is that?" Erumal said with fear in her voice.

"How did it get out there?" Lindariel said, almost in tears.

"This is bad," the warlock said, "Very, very bad…"

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...

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**Author's Note**

**Epic cliffhanger! For some reason, Chad's story just seems to write itself as a horror story with a lot of Lovecraftian themes and elements. But just so everyone is sated, Hastar will appear in other character's stories as well. With the way I have him set up, he is not just going to stick to one character. He is a being that likes to travel and see the world. Why would he stick around in cold Ironforge when there are two other continents to explore (and no Pandaria!)?**

**For those of you that have not read Lovecraft or similar authors, both Hastar and the symbol are based on the mythos. However I had fun and changed things around so it was interesting and followed my plot better.  
**

**Just to be clear so everyone knows what every character is wearing: Chad (Warrior Tier 6 without helmet), Erumal (Mage Tier 6), Lindariel (Priest Tier 6 with the hood down), Dulir (Warrior Tier 5), Kolona (Paladin Tier 5), and the Warlock (Warlock Tier 6)**

Tell your friends about this story. Read and Review.

~Bahamut_Reishiki


	15. Chapter 15: Renji I

**I do not own the characters, ideas, and/or places from either Bleach or World of Warcraft and their respective universes. Tite Kubo and Blizzard® own them respectively. Any original characters in the story belong to me. Any comparisons to other fan fiction or series characters are entirely coincidental and not intentional.**

Hello - Normal Speech

_Hello_ – Normal Thought

**Hello** – Spells Cast/ Demons / Titans/ Inner Hollow/ Dragons / Arrancar Released Form

_**Hello**_ – Thoughts of Demons / Titans/ Inner Hollow/ Dragons / Arrancar Released Form

**I love reviews. To see that someone took the time to log in (or not) and criticize my work is fantastic. I don't care if the review is positive or negative as long as they give good reasons for their response I'm happy. I have gotten reviews that pointed out plot holes, questions I didn't answer, or simply things that I forgot.**

**Review Questions Answered**

**Reality Deviant: **I wonder will Ichigo's hollow come out? Maybe make the Ichigo horned hollow killing Ulquiora scene version on somebody? It will be interesting paradigm shift to native seeing it. Who is next? lovecraftian elements fit here.

For the time being Ichigo will not need his hollow's power. He could go toe-to-toe with a lower-middle class Death Knight (the kind you see in Archeus in the Death Knight starting area) and come out on top. For the foreseeable future of my story I don't believe he will need the power to defeat an enemy.

**Faber277: **It's the same thing with some stuff added.

I've been getting quite a few PM's and reviews about this. The problem I had with Chapters 9-11 was that the sections I was writing were too short to convey the story I was trying to get across. So from chapter 12 on I started full-length (5000+ word) chapters focusing on each character. I have found this to be better.

**Blinded in a bolthole: **An interesting chapter... though why was the ranger disgusted by a bow made of mana I wonder...

It wasn't the bow being made of mana that she was disgusted by. If you read the Arrival chapter for Uryu you will see references to the type of mana/spiritual energy that Quincy's bows are made of. It is the feeling of the mana that she senses and is disgusted by, not the bow itself.

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...

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**AUTHOR'S NOTE 1****:** **Please do not review this chapter and say, "This is a repeat!" or something similar. I am fully aware and the next chapter and every chapter after that will be fresh material.**

**IMPORTANT AUTHOR'S NOTE**: **This chapter is the last chapter with reused material! I needed to rewrite the Renji sections from Chapters 9 and 11 so that I could finally delete those chapters. PLEASE do not assume that this is simply a rewrite that I am using to boost my word/chapter count. I am currently working on the next chapter for both Ichigo and Uryu. If you look at the second section of this chapter after the line break you might notice that it is entirely different after Renji meets Narain Soothfancy. I wanted to change Renji's plot slightly and I found changing this point was best. Once this chapter goes up I will start to delete Chapters 9, 10, and 11 once I have made sure that they have no important details to the story that I may have forgotten to re-include in the rewrites. On another note, please go back and reread Chapters 12-16 (or whatever they will be renumbered after 9-11 are gone). There will be material from the three chapters moved into them and I think you should read them again so they make more sense.**

**Secret of the Dragonflights Arc**

**Chapter 15: Renji's Fight against Time**

Renji let out a loud yawn as he followed behind Coridormi in the early morning sun. He was still a little peeved that she had to wake him up at the crack of dawn but she knew more about traveling through this place then he did so he was not complaining. Rubbing his neck, which was sore from sleeping all night on basically rocks and sand, he saw that he was starting to pull away from her and stopped until she caught up to him.

"For someone walking in a desert you're not in any rush to get to where you want to go."

Coridormi frowned, "What do you mean?"

Renji shrugged, "You really need to ask? It's common sense really. We may be next to water but we're still in a desert, a large hot and deadly desert. If I was you I would want to get out of here as quickly as possible in order to, you know, not die."

Coridormi stopped walking and turned towards the sea, the costal wind blowing her hair back, "I'm not really a person that likes to rush to get anywhere."

"You aren't?" Renji asked, walking next to her and looking out over the water.

"Nope," she nodded, "I'm a person that prefers the journey to the destination. While you might know exactly what awaits you at the end, there are many things that you cannot predict occurring on your journey, like you for example."

Renji frowned and looked at her, "What do you mean 'like me'?"

"I meant exactly that. When I set out from Silithus to the west and made my way across Tanaris I did not expect to meet such an interesting person such as yourself."

Renji coughed in embarrassment, "I haven't told you much about me besides my name and you think I'm interesting? I've been told I'm many things like stupid, stubborn, a coward and even ugly but never interesting."

She shrugged, "I guess you just seem like an interesting person to me."

The duo stood there in the warm and humid morning air a little longer before Renji groaned and turned back north, "You mind telling me what you're doing in a place like this?"

Walking after him, Coridormi said, "I was following a rumor. It made a lot of sense at the time but now I feel kind of stupid for believing it." Seeing Renji paying attention, she sighed and continued, "While working at Cenarion Hold as a healer I heard a rumor that an artifact of great power had been found in the Tanaris desert. Usually I wouldn't have paid attention but I was bored. I had been stationed there for almost a year and I wanted adventure so I packed some supplies and took off."

"You came here all by yourself. No offense, but you don't see to be…what's the word…rugged enough to survive in a place like this."

Coridormi smirked, "In hindsight you are right but then again what isn't clear and precise when viewed in the past?"

Holding his hands within his sleeves Renji perked his head up and asked, "Does this artifact you were looking for actually exist?"

"The artifact is called the 'Medallion of Uldum and if you believe the stories of the dwarves and gnomes, the medallion one of the keys needed to reveal the hidden land of Uldum."

"Sounds powerful."

"It is and that is why I stupidly tried to find it."

Renji seemed to think about something before asking, "Out of curiosity how were you going to find it in this desert? It took me hours to travel from somewhere deep in there," he motioned with his arm to the west, "to the ocean."

"Do you take me for an idiot?" she angrily snapped, "the rumor said the medallion was located somewhere all the way in the south near the Thistleshrub Valley. I spent days looking there for the stupid thing."

"If you were in the south what are you doing up here?"

"I'mheading to Steamwheedle Port up the coast. By the way, once we get there you're on your own. I can't afford to let you live off of my supplies anymore."

Renji rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, "Well, it wasn't like I had a choice. I would have packed if I wanted to go to a desert."

"Nonetheless you still need-"

Not paying attention, Renji kept walking until he bumped into Coridormi, "Hey why did you stop?"

She didn't say anything as she reached for the intricate staff on her back, "Renji, do you sense anything…off?"

"Sense anything off? What are you talking about? Everything looks the-" Renji's argument was cut short as a strange feeling washed over him. Even though his ability to sense spiritual pressure and energy in this world was shot to hell, he was still able to accurately sense that something was different. He couldn't explain it but the colors of the world seemed…wrong. In some spots they seemed more saturated, others seemed to look duller, and still others seemed to entirely lose color. What he was seeing shouldn't be possible.

His hand instinctively reaching for his zanpakuto, Renji carefully moved closer to Coridormi, "You know what's happening, don't you?"

"Yes, I do."

"Mind filling me in then?"

"I would," she responded gravely, "But them being here shouldn't be possible."

"What do you mean it shouldn't be possible?"

Coridormi shivered nervously as she replied, "Because it is not their _time_ to be here."

Renji's eyes widened in confusion, "What does time have to do with-"

His question was cut short as a swirling gray and black portal grew into existence over the beach in front of them. Stepping back and using an arm to push Coridormi back as well, Renji braced himself for whatever came out of it. He did not have to wait long before several large outlines and shadows appeared within the swirling light and when he was able to clearly see them, he was shocked to say the least.

Every one of the creatures was painted in sickening shades of grey and black with jagged white cracks running across the bodies. As they moved out of the portal and onto the beach, Renji could see flakes of dust, scales or something fall off them and disappear into the air before reaching the ground. While the majority of them appeared to have the lower body of a lizard and an upper body that only had a cursory resemblance to a person it was the last and largest creature out of the portal that caused him the smallest bit of nervousness.

The large creature seemed to resemble a cross between a dragon and a man, if that was even possible. With glowing blue eyes, standing at least twelve feet tall, and easily holding a greatsword larger than his own body, the creature looked every bit intimidating as it probably was. Renji, however, was not going to let a little fear of an unknown enemy slow him down.

"Aren't you scary big guy?" he said amused as he rested his zanpakuto on his shoulder, "And just what are you supposed to be?"

The creature ignored the taunt and pointed a clawed finger at Renji, **"Jest all you want but you are an anomaly upon the time stream! For the sake of the future that we prefer you must be eliminated with prejudice!"**

"What the fuck do you mean by anomaly? I look normal. Hell, I even feel normal."

The large creature narrowed its eyes, **"Your presence is causing unalterable changes to the time stream of Azeroth. Stopping you here would limit those changes."**

"Look, I have no idea what you are talking about except for the part about you wanting to kill me. I've been meaning to let off some steam since I arrived and you guys might just be the fight I need."

A loud and echoing chuckle escaped from the drakonid's throat, **"I find it amusing that you think you have the power and ability to match a member of the Infinite Dragonflight. Being an anomaly may hide your abilities from our sight but you will still fall before us!"**

"Is that so?" Renji replied as a grin spread across his face, "You may say that but are you willing to actually fight and prove that?"

While he was eager to fight them, Renji remembered that he wasn't alone. With his left hand he pushed Coridormi back, "Retreat down the beach until I am done. Fighting these punks will be easy but I have no clue what they can do. I'd rather you be at a safe distance until I'm done.

Nodding in appreciation, Coridormi ran down the beach away from the eventual fighting, _"This is perfect. While I was trying to think of an excuse as to not fight, this anomaly…Renji…offered to fight them for me. This gives me the perfect chance to see his abilities in action and how to potentially counter them in the future."_

"**No, it is not I who will fight you,"** the drakonid replied and motioned forward with its hand. Immediately one of its underlings rushed forward on its four legs, teeth bared and claws extended.

"Fine by me! Let's go!" Renji yelled and charged the dragonspawn. His opponent let out a toothy grin and laughed menacingly as he charged Renji.

"**You think a mere sword can harm me?"**

"We will see now won't we?" Nearly at his opponent, Renji jumped up and over the dragonspawn. Thrusting his zanpakuto to his opponent's back, he was surprised when everything turned gray and out of focus for a second before returning back to normal. When it did his eyes widened when he noticed his opponent was gone.

"_What the hell was that, some kind of teleportation ability? No, if it were teleportation, it wouldn't have affected anything around him. It had to be something else."_

Landing on the sand, Renji turned around and saw his opponent standing a few meters away from him, "That was a neat trick you did just then. If you didn't do that, you would have been dead."

"**We might not be able to affect you directly with our powers but every opponent has a weakness."**

"And since you are going to tell me anyway, what is mine?"

"**I used temporal stasis on the air around you, slowing your movement down enough for a simple escape from your attack."**

"_He can control time? Wait a second; opponents like him never tell you their abilities without a reason."_

"That's not all to your ability, is it?" Renji goaded, "There is a weakness you are not telling me. If you could do all that you would have just killed me before I could attack you or better yet, before I knew you were there. I'm willing to bet that you need to constantly focus on using your ability and thus leaving yourself open to attack."

"**You might have figured out how it works but you forgot one thing."**

"And that is?"

"**You are fighting alone ever since you sent your friend away."**

Renji tilted his head down before leaning back and laughing. The dragonspawn and other infinite dragonflight members watched with confusion at his reaction to what appeared, to them, to be a hopeless situation. After a moment, he wiped a tear from his eye, "Oh, that was good. You think you have me trapped don't you? But there is one thing you did not calculate."

The dragonspawn was getting nervous at Renji's glare and took a step back nervously, **"What do you mean?"**

"What I mean is this," Renji said as he simply vanished. Looking around frantically, the dragonspawn felt a sharp stab of pain coming from its stomach. Trembling, it looked down and saw Renji's sword impaled in it. Coughing out some blood, it tried and failed to remove the blade.

"As I started to say," Renji finished, pulled Zabimaru from the dragonspawn, "If I simply move too fast for your eyes to see, you cannot slow the air around me since you have no idea where I would be and thus, could not react fast enough to do anything."

The dragonspawn sputtered out a few unpronounceable words before collapsing to the sand, dead before his head impacted the ground.

Flicking the black blood off his zanpakuto, Renji turned to the remaining infinite dragons, "So, who's next?"

The drakonid quickly opened up another portal before his compatriots retreated through it. Before he stepped through and disappeared, he turned and gave one warning to Renji, **"I offer you this warning anomaly, be careful of who you trust. You're simple presence on Azeroth has disrupted the time stream and we will fight you every chance we can!"**

When every dragonkin disappeared back through the portal except for the one dragonspawn lying dead on the sand, Renji sighed and sheathed Zabimaru. Turning around to find Coridormi, who he saw approaching with a look of both amazement and confusion, he asked, "You want to explain just what the hell those things were and why they wanted me dead so badly?"

Giving a scathing look at the corpse, she shook her head, "Look Renji, I don't know much more about them then what they just told you. All that I know is that they call themselves the Infinite Dragonflight and the travel through the time stream seeking to change to course of history for their own benefit."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold on a second. You're telling me I have time travelling dragons hunting me down?"

"Not in so many words but yes."

"This is really screwed up lady."

Coridormi sighed, "Tell me about it."

* * *

...

* * *

"Absolutely not! I will not sell them to you for anything less than fifteen gold."

Renji groaned and dragged a hand down his face in frustration. For the last five minutes or so he had been arguing with the goblin in front of him about the price of two tickets to Theramore Island.

"You and I both know that the tickets are not worth nearly half that. I'll pay you five gold for them with the promise of getting out of your face afterwards."

The goblin growled and wrung his hands together. After a moment he motioned for the two goblin bruisers to leave his shop and closed the door behind them. Muttering a few choice curses under his breath that Renji didn't even know existed, the goblin counter offered with, "I can see that you are not quite as gullible as I thought you were and therefore I am willing to actually haggle with you. I will give you the two tickets you require for eleven gold. I do believe that is a fair price."

Renji would have agreed if not for the small greedy grin on the goblin's face, "You want to haggle about the price? Fine. I am willing to part with eight gold for the tickets only because I know you are still trying to cheat me out of my money."

"Are you purposely being unreasonable and belligerent?" the goblin grumbled, "I gave you a fair goblin price for the tickets and you are still trying to make it lower? If I gave them to you for eight gold I will actually lose money and that, my friend, is never an option."

"Look buddy," Renji said leaning on the counter, "We are both too stubborn to give up and I am willing to bet I can take on your guards if you have them attack me so let's cut to the chase. I will give you ten gold for the tickets and leave. How's that sound?"

"You bastard," the goblin cursed before turning around and grabbing two tickets from a folder, "Fine, I will sell them for ten gold and fifty silver and not a copper less!"

"If that's the way it's going to be then I guess I'll take it," Renji said as he pulled the appropriate amount of coins out of the sack Coridormi gave him and paid the goblin, who greedily took the coins from him as soon as he took them out.

Turning and walking out of the shop before he lost anymore of his money, Renji saw the two bruisers standing on either side of the door and by the looks on their green faces they were upset with him.

"What the hell do you want?"

They didn't reply as they pushed past him and back into the store before slamming the door closed. Shaking his head and walking away before he got involved in something else he walked around looking for Coridormi. After a few minutes of searching he found her sitting in the shade by the docks, staring off into the Great Sea.

"There you are," he said nonchalantly, "I got the tickets from the goblin but you failed to mention how much of a hard ass he was. I had to pull out every trick I learned in order to get him to sell them below twenty gold."

Without turning to face him she asked, "How much did you manage to get him to lower his price to? Eighteen or nineteen gold?"

"About eleven actually."

Renji was pleased when Coridormi actually stumbled as she got up and thought it would have been hilarious if she fell into the ocean from the shock.

"Eleven gold? Did you steal the tickets from him?"

"Steal?" he repeated, "No, I'm just a really good barterer and when he was about to sic his two guards on me I threatened him in retaliation."

"I probably should have warned you more about him but I was not expecting you to have been so successful."

"Anyway," Renji said as he showed Coridormi the two tickets, "Here are the tickets for the boat to Theramore. It should be here in about an hour but there is something bugging me. You said earlier that you were going to stick with me until we got here and then ditch me and now you want to still travel with me. What's your deal?"

"My deal?" she repeated, "My plans simply changed. The attack by those dragons earlier got me realizing that perhaps travelling by myself is not the best option. You were easily able to deal with them and so I think it would be in my best interests to stick around you until the danger has passed."

"That makes sense I guess," he nodded. Turning and walking away he said, "I'm going to go explore around a bit until the ship arrives. I doubt you'll get attacked with so many different people around but if you do just shout and I'll come running to save you again."

"_Damn. I can't just let him walk away but if I try to follow him he might get more suspicious,"_ Coridormi mentally growled as she watched Renji walk away.

The port town was pretty much what Renji expected it to be and it wasn't long before he reached the edge of the town and the start of the desert. Staring out into the endless sands he sighed in boredom. Apart from fishermen, goblin traders, and too many hermits to count there really was nothing to do in this place. He turned around and was about to go look for a spot of shade to sit and rest in when he hear a high-pitched voice shouting from nearby.

"I will not stand for this price gouging!"

Mildly curious as to what was going on, Renji walked around a building and found himself witness to a highly amusing sight. A short man with pink hair, standing no more than two or three feet high and wearing a bright purple robe and turban was trying to look intimidating while arguing with a troll about the same height as Captain Zaraki.

"Look Narain," the troll said with a thick accent, "You will not be getting any of my wares until you pay the full price."

"I did fully pay you for everything!" Narain argued, "I paid you the same amount of money as last week."

The troll nodded, "You did pay the same but the problem is the price has gone up. With everything going on with the Dark Portal food and water prices have increased."

"I don't care! I've been living here for the last ten years without the prices changing and now you increase it? I will not pay one more silver for what I bought and that's that!"

"You are seriously going to argue about fifteen copper Narain?" the troll asked with a pitying look on his face.

"That is not the point of all this and you know that. Now if you will excuse me I will be leaving now."

"I don't think so," the troll angrily said and began to follow the gnome in order to recover what was taken. Before he could grab the small gnome he felt a strong hand on his shoulder. Stopping and turning around he was surprised to find the hand belonged to a black-clothed human with bright red hair.

"Why are you allowing that gnome to steal from me? This does not involve you so don't interfere."

"Look," Renji said, "I may not be involved in whatever is going on between the two of you but I do know that you must look quite petty to be about to beat up someone not even a quarter of your size."

The troll stared at Renji before smacking Renji's hand off his shoulder, "Be that as it may, I am still owed money. I intend to collect it one way or another."

Scratching his head, Renji asked, "Well, how much does he owe?"

"Fifteen copper."

"That's it?" Renji said in disbelief as he handed over the small copper coins from Coridormi's pouch. _"I should thank her for explaining the currency system of Azeroth to me when I get back later."_

The troll hesitantly took the bronze coins from Renji, "You're alright for a human. It's not often a human offers a troll assistance."

Renji nodded at the troll and started to walk back towards the docks. He didn't get far before the gnome from earlier stepped out in front of him.

"Thank you for the help with that troll. I've been paying him for what I need for years and just now he started to increase the price of his wares? It's ridiculous!"

"Listen, it's not my problem. Just pay the man next time."

"I would like to invite you to my home human. Narian Soothfancy does not allow those that help him to go without compensation."

"I really can't go-"

"Please hurry up! The temperature in Tanaris rises at least twenty degrees this time of day and the sun isn't much better." As the gnome ran ahead, Renji continued standing there, his mouth agape and his brain trying to decipher what exactly just happened.

"Hold on a sec!" Renji exclaimed as he followed the gnome, "You're acting all friendly just because I helped you save some money? Shouldn't you, you know, be more suspicious of me or something?"

Without turning around the gnome responded, "Normally I would be utterly suspicious of someone offering me help. I do have quite the reputation throughout Azeroth as an insane genius but I can tell that you are incapable of lying with a straight face."

"I can too lie!"

The gnome turned his head and looked at Renji, "There it is. When you lied just now your right eyebrow ascended roughly two millimeters and your left ear twitched slightly." Facing back around and away from the annoyed and embarrassed Renji, the gnome stopped and let out a shout, "We have arrived at my humble abode! Please come on in."

Renji found that following the gnome into his house was easier said than down. The first problem he faced was that the door inside was only about 4.5 feet tall and forced him to crouch down to get inside. Even doing all that he still managed to bash his head against the top of the doorframe. Rubbing his sore head and standing up straight he saw that the entire first floor of the small house was full of bookshelves as well as stacks of books.

"You must really like books."

"Books are knowledge my friend," the gnome responded excitedly while hurrying back and forth in his home, "The more knowledge you have the better prepared you are for the future as I always say."

Renji picked up a book and quickly leafed through it. Noticing that it was written in a language that vaguely resembled a kid writing in the mud with a stick he asked, "You've read all these books?"

"Every single one. I am fluent in over ten languages and can read in five more."

Renji was unable to hide his amazement, "That is remarkable."

"I'm a gnome. We all know at least four languages by the time we are twenty."

He was about to respond when an overly complicated clock on the wall started ringing. Turning to look at it, Renji bit back a curse, "Thanks and all for inviting me here but I have a ship to catch and if I don't get back before it arrives my travelling buddy will probably get upset."

"Nonsense," the gnome replied with an exaggerated wave of his hands, "I have the entire dock schedule memorized and the ship you are most likely referring to does not arrive for at least thirty more minutes. From observing your walking pace on the way here, it should take you no more than four minutes to run to the dock from my house. Please, have a seat."

Renji sat down in one of the miniaturized chairs and asked, "So who are you?"

The gnome scoffed and brushed some dirt off his robe, "I am Narain Soothfancy, gnome genius extraordinaire! My vast reservoir of knowledge extends into multiple branches of science and magic. I am well versed in fields such as engineering, robotics, molecular transmogrification, and several fields of magic and don't get me started when it comes to ancient languages, cultures and fashion accessories."

Renji just sat there staring at Narain with a deadpan look on his face. After a moment he sighed and rubbed his face, "Did you forget the part about being insane?"

"My insanity is irrelevant. In fact I would say it has been a big help. Sanity dragged me down and limited my ideas and thoughts."

"_This guy really is insane. I bet he doesn't even know half of the crap he just said."_ Renji sat there brooding for a minute before he perked up and asked, "You said you can read ancient languages?"

"But of course," Narain said with pride, "I an adequately able to read twenty or so ancient languages. To be honest, I lost count years ago."

"Why would you need to know so many languages?"

"Vigilance!"

"Err…right," Renji slowly said as he pulled a scroll out of his clothes, "Anyway, I found this in the desert yesterday and I was wondering if you might know what it says."

Narain quickly grabbed the scroll and opened it without tearing it. After his eyes glanced over it he said, "Ah, it's written in the ancient language of dragons. Judging by the script of the runes and the size of the letters themselves I would conclude it was composed by the ancient night elf sect that worshipped the dragonflights as gods."

"You know what it says?"

"I will be able to decipher the runes in less then fifteen minutes so please have a look around my home while I work upstairs," Narain said before climbing up the ladder to the small second floor."

Renji jerked a thumb towards the door, "Can I just head back to town and-"

His question was cut off as an overly large book flew through the air and smacked him in the face. As it fell to the ground and exposed a large rectangular red mark on Renji's face, Narain said, "If you want this scroll deciphered please refrain from leaving the premises. Thank you."

Grumbling something that resembled 'stupid gnome,' Renji leaned back and looked out the nearby window down at Steamwheedle Port. The sun was just passing overhead so everything outside was bright and caused him to squint his eyes. He closed his eyes and was about to doze off when he heard Narain's mumbling stop. Without opening his eyes he asked, "Done already?"

"Yes I have but there are a few questions I would like to ask before I give it back to you."

Renji partially opened his eyes and noticed something was off. Narain seemed to be in a cold sweat and was nervously gripping his hands together.

"Shoot."

"First things first, where did you truly get this scroll?"

"I found it on some body in the desert. The guy was long dead so I don't think he'll mind that I took it."

Narain looked around in thought, "Is there anything else you can tell me? Perhaps what the corpse was wearing or anything else you may have found nearby?"

Renji scratched his chin, "Not really. What's the big deal about it anyway?"

"Let me begin with the implausibility of what is written on the scrolls. It references names, places, and events that have occurred that I attempted to cross reference with zero results."

"I take it that's a bad thing."

"There are two different ways this could be taken. Either this scroll is an elaborate forgery or simply someone's idea of a practical joke. If that's the case we have a master forger living somewhere on Azeroth that can replicate ancient languages, age from time, and how they were written with perfect accuracy. With the improbability of that scenario it makes me conclude that my second conclusion is the correct one."

"You seem to know an awful lot about this."

"I have not always lived in Tanaris. For my first fifty years I lived in Gnomeregan before moving Ironforge and working for the League of Explorers as an outside consultant focused on ancient and mystic languages for about thirty years. After that I got bored and decided to go off and do some of my own research. I ended up travelling all over Azeroth studying the most isolated ruins and cultures."

"Enough with the history lessons. If you aren't going to tell me what the scrolls says just say that so I can leave," Renji groaned.

"Since you are being so impatient I'll cut to the chase. During the twenty-five or so years I travelled alone I found references to beings from other dimensions trapped here on Azeroth. Some of them are quite familiar due to recent events, such as the Old Gods and Elemental Lords, but there were also things that were unfamiliar to me. After my discovery I travelled to Ironforge, Dalaran, Silvermoon and Darnassus in search of clues as to that group but I found nothing. It was as if no one had ever heard of those names."

Narain walked over to a book covered desk in the back of his home and opened a drawer, "Whoever had the scroll you gave me thought it was a chapter in the 'Draconic for Dummies' series of books. While that would be a logical conclusion based on the fact that it is written in draconic runes and texts, it is wrong. Dragons are notorious for keeping secrets. It took the express permission of dozens of elder dragons and two aspects in order to get 'Draconic for Dummies' written in the first place. This scroll is possibly the only other written draconic text that may exist on Azeroth."

"So it's important?"

Narain shrugged, "I don't know for sure. The scroll, even with the knowledge it has, is incomplete. It references names but not their origins, battles without a location, events without a year. It is as if it was designed to be part of a set."

"That's good right? You can just go out and find the rest."

"No, the rest have probably long since been destroyed. The fact you found one is phenomenal to say the least."

Renji leaned forward, "Let's cut to the chase. What does the scroll I gave you actually say?"

Narain groaned and sat down on another chair before responding, "There is one name on the scroll and it truly frightens me: C'Thun."

"C'Thun?" Renji asked puzzled.

The gnome shook his head, "C'Thun is the name of a being known as an Old God that until recently was imprisoned below the earth in a magical slumber. But even in its debilitated state it was able to sow madness and insanity across the southern half of Kalimdor. It took the combined might of over two hundred of the best adventurers in all of Azeroth to kill it. But I believe its defeat is only temporary."

"What do you mean temporary? I thought you said it was killed?"

"Tell me Renji, how do you kill a god? Most of the races living on this planet that took part in the battle believe it is dead but I fear that it was only the physical form that was slain. It's mind and soul rests in a dimension that exists beyond what we can comprehend. Its 'death' was merely a setback. It will eventually recover its body and come again. The only question being will it take months, years, decades, or centuries for C'Thun to return?"

"Ok," Renji groaned as he flexed his hand and found it to be covered in a light sweat, "Old God aside, what other things did you find written on it?"

"The strange this is the names were written in a pattern resembling columns so I assume they are groups. I believe there were four other names with C'Thun but I was only able to translate two: Yogg-Saron and N'Zoth."

"Other Old Gods I take it?"

"I fear that is correct. While that is troubling since it shows that C'Thun was only one of many I may have found worse news."

"Before you go on answer me this," Renji said as he stood up and looked out the window, "You found all this from the scroll I gave you, which I had no idea what it said, and now are telling me everything. Why do this and not just lie to me and say it was a diary or something?"

Narain took out a handkerchief and wiped his brow, "It is because I can trust you with this knowledge. The world needs to know about this and I, I must admit, am not a qualified gnome to do so. My mind is already partially gone and if I were to go out and seek knowledge on what is written down here I believe I will lose the rest of it. You, on the other hand are different. I can tell that your mind and will are strong enough to resist whatever you find."

"Look Narain, just because you think I am going to help doesn't mean I will. I will promise you that I will try though."

Narain looked up at the clock and bit his lip, "Before you go Renji there is one last story I need to tell you so listen carefully. The last group on the scroll is mostly illegible but references beings that the Old Gods were once subservient to but were betrayed and sealed by their servants. It is ironic that the Old Gods, whom it took the Titans years of fighting to subdue, fought to protect Azeroth from their masters, who I believe were even more powerful. I was no able to read the complete list but there were only two names that I believe I translated correctly but with the spelling and all I may be misspelling and saying them."

"What are they?"

"The names, which are referenced to as Elder Gods, are composed of a name and a title…I think. The first one is called," Narain looked through his notes before continuing, "Hastar: The King in Yellow and the other is Suma'nus: The Terror that Roams the Shadows."

"Hold on a second," Renji interrupted, "Your timescale seems to be a bit off. If the dragons came about after the Titans defeated these Old Gods of yours and the Old Gods defeated their bosses long before that why is it written in the dragon's language?"

"That is a question I don't believe either of us will ever meant to ask. The dragons may have been told about it by the Titans but how would the Titans know unless the Old Gods told them or they found the sealed Elder Gods?"

Renji shivered a chill coursed through the desert air, "You said C'Thun is a god but it was subservient to these other gods right? Perhaps it feared the Titans accidently releasing them and gave these Titans a warning?"

"That does make sense but it fills my soul with dread that a being whose sole purpose is sowing madness and insanity with no morals, ethics or anything holding it back that fears another being so much to willingly part with information to a moral enemy. I think that the Old Gods may have warned the Titans about the Elder Gods but I also believe the Titans found one or two of the sealed Elder Gods and attempted to bolster the seals to prevent them from ever leaving."

Their conversation was cut off as a boat horn honked in the distance. Looking out the window Renji cursed as he saw a boat floating towards the dock, "Crap, I'm going to be late!"

Before he could race out the door Narain stopped him, "Here is your scroll back Renji. Take it and take this warning. If the Titans barely managed to force the Old Gods to sleep temporarily do you think the Old Gods did the same to the Elder Gods? No…the Old Gods trapped and sealed their still awake dark masters for thousands of years. If they have been awake for all this time why haven't we felt their presence? Rather, why haven't they attempted to escape before then?"

Renji's sweat-covered hand gripped the doorknob, "Are you telling me that they don't want to escape?"

"No, they don't _need_ to escape."

Renji quickly opened the door and began racing down the hill to the docks when Narain yelled, "When you get to Theramore find Jaina Proudmoore and tell her that I sent you! She will listen to everything you say!"

Narain closed the door and let out a heavy breath. The information that he obtained from that scroll was deeply disturbing and his mind was racing on its origins. How did the dragons find out this information about the Elder and Old Gods and why would they write it down? No, he shook his head as he walked to his small kitchen for some tea, I think someone found out about the gods and wrote it down and attempted to flee but was found and killed. If that was the case why did the dragons not take back the scroll and prevent Renji from finding it?

There were so many questions racing through his head that Narain was glad when the tea was ready. As he sipped his tea he heard something strange. Putting his tea down and sitting still he focused his mind and waiting for the noise to appear again. After a few seconds he heard it again and this time he was able to tell that the sound resembled someone throwing a wet towel onto a wooden floor. Calmly and quietly getting up, he made his way to the window where the noise was closest to and crouched below it. A moment later a shadow blocked the entire window and cast his entire house in an eerie twilight.

Bathed in a cold sweat, Narain dared not move and give away his hiding spot. After what seemed like hours, the shadow moved and the sense of terror and dread vanished but he did not move. After several more minutes, he peaked up and out the window and saw nothing but the mid-afternoon desert and sun. His gnome mind was working at full capacity as he opened the window and looked around. How could something massive enough to block out an entire window with its body just appear and disappear like that?

When he looked down at the ground his eyes froze in shock. In the sand leading to the window but not away were long track marks similar to that of a snake. Looking into the distance, he saw that they appeared to have traveled for miles before stopping at his window and then vanishing.

Closing the window and locking it, he turned around and let out a sigh of relief. Whatever was out there was gone now but he knew it would be back. Narain also knew that it was somehow related to the scroll that Renji gave him and what was written on it. If he were going to solve what was going on he would have to talk to one of the eldest dragons alive, preferably an aspect if he could find one. Luckily he had a few favors he could call in with some of the dragonflights. After all, he did help prevent the end of the world once already.

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Coridormi stood on the deck of the ship and looked out over Steamwheedle Port. While she was a bronze dragon and thus was known for her patience for some reason she was rather anxious and nervous, if her tapping foot was any indication. Rather than worry or try to think about what was causing this reaction she was actually fascinated by it.

"_It must be related to Renji,"_ she thought, _"His presence prevents me from seeing the future of events that include him. It is quite intriguing that I cannot see if he will make it to the boat on time or not. I would rather he make it but just not knowing if he will or not is quite the feeling."_

Just as the boat started to pull away a voice shouted from the end of the docks, "Crap! Wait for me!"

She narrowed her eyes and saw that Renji was sprinting down the docks. When he reached the end he pushed off the wooden boards and leapt into the air and onto the deck of the ship.

"Almost didn't make it," he panted slightly while stretching his back, "That stupid gnome almost made me miss my ride."

"Glad to see you actually made it Renji," she said before something Renji mentioned puzzled her, "What gnome?"

"It was...what the hell was his name again?" Renji folded his arms as he tried to remember the gnome's name, "I think it was Narain or something. It was such a stupid name."

While she acted confused and disinterested in the name Coridormi knew exactly who that was. Every bronze dragon knew that Narain Soothfancy was one of the main reasons the Scepter of the Shifting Sands was reforged and the Qiraji stopped. While the four remaining dragonflights held him in high regards there remained a lot of suspicion about him. Whenever a mortal like Narain learns to speak and write draconic they are kept under watch by dragons but since he is famous among the mortals their usual procedure couldn't be used and so they simply ignored him.

"Narain?" she asked with feigned ignorance, "What did you talk about?"

Tired as he was, Renji spoke without thinking too much about it, "He translated something I found and then went into a full-blown apocalypse speech. I tell you, that gnome could convince someone they would fall up into the sky if he were dramatic enough."

"What did he translate?"

Renji yawned, "Coridormi, the last two days have been hell for me and I haven't had a decent night's sleep for at least a week. I'll talk to you more about this tomorrow or when we arrive but right now I'm going to go pass out."

As he walked below deck to his bed Renji failed to notice Coridormi's suspicious eyes, _"What did Narain find out? You will tell me Renji. One way or another I will find out what you talked about with Narain. That gnome is a genius pretending to be insane. There is no way he simply talked to you about nothing."_


	16. Chapter 16: Uryu II

**I do not own the characters, ideas, and/or places from either Bleach or World of Warcraft and their respective universes. Tite Kubo and Blizzard® own them respectively. Any original characters in the story belong to me. Any comparisons to other fan fiction or series characters are entirely coincidental and not intentional.**

Hello - Normal Speech

_Hello_ – Normal Thought

**Hello** – Spells Cast/ Demons / Titans/ Inner Hollow/ Dragons / Arrancar Released Form

_**Hello**_ – Thoughts of Demons / Titans/ Inner Hollow/ Dragons / Arrancar Released Form

**I love reviews. To see that someone took the time to log in (or not) and criticize my work is fantastic. I don't care if the review is positive or negative as long as they give good reasons for their response I'm happy. I have gotten reviews that pointed out plot holes, questions I didn't answer, or simply things that I forgot.**

**PM or say in a review whether you prefer this method: One character per chapter or my earlier method. Depending on what is said I will go back and add material to the earlier sections (Chapters 9 – 11) in order to make them full-blown chapters.**

**AUTHOR NOTE #1: **I may make a chapter containing all of my Original Characters in order to give more history about them. Do note, if I do that, that it would always be a work in progress. I will not give information about them that I have not already written in my story.

**Reviews**

**1. Deadzepplin: **I hope Kalithresh gets away it would provide an interesting turn in the plot and a pretty interesting goal for Tatsuki to round up a dozen adventurers and charge down into the Steamvaults in Outlands to kill him. Good story keep on keeping on!

Tatsuki's battle against Warlord Kalithresh will continue in her next chapter. I have some surprises in store for that battle that I think you'll like. I am trying to avoid the standard endings of: I win, you win, we tie, it was a trap, and I was stalling for time.

**2. Reality Deviant:** Interesting. Who is next?

I plan on going in order of characters so I don't focus too much on any particular one.

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...

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**Here is the next chapter of my story. With all of my rewriting and chapter merges done this is the first chapter that will have no old words added to it. The plot, which some of you have desperately tried to figure out is not as easy to solve as you like. There is one thing that I find interesting and that is I have put hints into the origins of my OC's and yet nobody has picked up on them. If you PM me with your answers to who you think the OC is related to I will acknowledge you with something special later on in my story.**

**Secret of the Dragonflights Arc**

**Chapter 16: Uryu's Blitzkrieg through the Bulwark**

Uryu slipped a little as he climbed over a rock. Since escaping from the Scarlet Monastery with the help of his convenient friend Lindsay Ravensun, they had been carefully making their way west towards the Bulwark, the forsaken bastion against the scourge forces in the plaguelands. Huffing, he looked around the landscape bathed in the moonlight, "Please explain again why we are traveling this way. Isn't this Bulwark of yours more than a few miles away?"

"We are traveling this way," she impatiently said as she skidded down a small slope, "because of the two dark rangers stationed at the Bulwark. You do know who they are right?"

He shrugged, "Not as well as you think. My only encounter with someone claiming to be a dark ranger was several hours ago and she really didn't impress me."

A sly smile broke over Lindsay's face, "That is an interesting tale but I don't think you have the faintest idea of how lucky you were. The only reason the dark ranger you encountered didn't kill you was most likely because that wasn't her mission. Dark rangers are the best assassins, fighters, and guards of the forsaken and are notorious for being absolutely faithful to their leader, Sylvanas. Whether or not they agree with the orders she gives them they will carry them out efficiently."

"Based on what transpired between us I don't think that is quite accurate," he disagreed.

Lindsay stopped walking, "Oh? Then what do you think?"

"I'm not saying that the dark rangers you just described are all that. The one I talked too was quick to anger, quite fanatical and gave away her position to a potential enemy, myself, without regards to my skills. I don't think a dark ranger would have behaved that way."

Staring at Uryu, Lindsay pouted and turned around, "I can't say for certain if you fought a dark ranger but the ones at the Bulwark are most definitely the real deal."

He quirked an eyebrow, "What will we be dealing with?"

"At most two dark rangers, possibly three. Based upon some reliable sources they have orders from Sylvanas herself to not let anyone not in the Horde through and to attack any that try. Since they were high elf rangers in life they have keen eyesight that can detect movement from up to a mile away. If you can see them, they can most likely see you. As for their skills, I can safely say that they are nearly on par with ours."

"That doesn't sound quite as bad as you attempted to make it," Uryu said with relief, "If there are only two of them then we can each take one."

"Good idea," she mocked, "Except for the fact that dark rangers don't fight fair. They will use every opening and opportunity provided to win. The honor and pride they had in life is gone in undeath."

Uryu quietly walked over a fallen branch and ducked down, "Anything else?"

"The Bulwark is the only passage through the Lordearon Mountains to the plaguelands. Due to its high strategic value we can expect a variety of mages, warlocks, and warriors there in addition to the dark rangers."

Some time later Lindsay stopped and knelt down before reaching into her backpack. Pulling out a small pair of binoculars, she turned and tossed them to Uryu, "This is as far as we go without being immediately spotted by the dark rangers. Take a look through those and tell me what you see."

Catching the binoculars, Uryu pressed himself against a rock and looked over the side, "It appears your initial estimation of the forces there were grossly understated. I can see at least a dozen people dressed in clothing similar to spellcasters, at least double that for warriors and…wait a second, that's not good."

"What's wrong now?" she scoffed.

"If I am not mistaken there are at least ten dark rangers patrolling the area around the Bulwark. Getting by them will be the hardest part of your plan."

Lindsay moved down off the rock she was laying on, "Have no fear Uryu, I have a plan to get us past them with relative ease."

"Relative?"

"You honestly expect us to get by them safe and sound with no injuries?" She scoffed and continued, "That's not going to happen. What we need to do is have one of us distract the dark rangers long enough so that the other one can reach the Bulwark. For all of their skills and abilities, the dark rangers are adverse to close quarter combat. If you could manage to run in amongst the forsaken and Argent Dawn civilians you will most likely be safe from their arrows. That is, of course, that you don't allow them to move more than fifteen feet away from you. At that point they could shoot a fly in midair."

"A classic divide and conquer plan?" he said deep in thought, "While it is sound in theory in reality it is much harder to implement."

"And why is that?"

Uryu smirked, "First of all, the plan relies on knowing your enemies abilities in order to maximize the diversion. While we know the dark ranger's weakness, so do they. If they see one of us acting strange at all they might figure out our plan before the other reaches the Bulwark. Second there are the mages and warlocks at the Bulwark. You don't think they will just stand around doing nothing while we attempt to break through? I fully expect them to launch magical attacks at us the entire time."

"If you have all this figured out then what do you propose we do?" Lindsay angrily retorted.

He adjusted his glasses up the bridge of his nose, "Based on your earlier estimate I would have recommended a two pronged attack with each of use coming from opposite sides. The dark rangers would have been forced to split their attention between us, limiting their overall effectiveness. But with ten of them, that would be suicide. Though I am loath to admit it, your plan is the one I will follow."

"Very good," she gloated, "Here's what we will do. I'll sneak around to the southern side of the Bulwark and draw their attention. When they see me and head south to intercept me, you will have at most a minute to break through the Bulwark and to the plaguelands."

"There's one small problem, how will you get through? If you have ten dark rangers hunting you I don't see your chances of living to be all that high."

"Don't worry about me, I have experience with fighting dark rangers. I believe I will be able to get their attention and then hide from them long enough for your escape to draw their attention back to the Bulwark."

Uryu grumbled, "Here I thought you were going to recommend that I be the bait."

Before stepping backwards and disappearing into the shadows Lindsay warned, "How do you know you're not?"

When she was gone and he couldn't sense her anymore Uyru turned back and focused on the Bulwark. Looking through the binoculars once again he mentally memorized each of the positions of the dark rangers in order to calculate his path to minimize attacks by them. As the minutes passed and Lindsay still hadn't appeared, he realized something was wrong.

"_This is odd," _he thought, _"When I first looked I counted and recounted ten dark rangers patrolling but now I only could nine. Where is the last one? Did she spot Lindsay before she got into position and went after her? No! She's here!"_

Uryu ducked and rolled backwards, barely avoiding the metal arrow as it tore through his sleeve and embedded itself in the rock. Taking a quick glance, he was slightly unsettled when he saw the arrow hit the boulder with enough force to create cracks along the side.

Forgoing any attempts at stealth, the dark ranger who shot at him boldly walked out of the shadow of the tree she was hiding in, her hooded red eyes full of cruel mirth, "I must be slacking if you were able to move and avoid that shot through the heart. I'm equally impressed that you avoided getting injured at all. The special poison I coated that arrow in was potent enough to fell a fully-grown kodo within seconds."

Grimacing, he narrowed his eyes as he tried to think of a plan to deal with this development, "Why would someone like you need to poison your arrows? Are you afraid you'll miss your target? I was under the impression that dark rangers are among the best marksmen in the world. The simple fact that you needed to poison your arrows suggests that you're not as skilled as the rumors say."

Her regal voice replied, "How quaint, a human that knows how to hold a conversation. It's too bad your attempt to stall for time did not work, I would have loved to chat with you some more." As she lazily reached into the quiver on her back and drew an arrow, she cocked her hooded head to the side, "I see that you are unarmed. Did you manage to get this far into our territory without a weapon? You are quite intriguing but orders are orders after all. Try not to take this too personally."

A normal human would not have seen her nock the arrow nor fire it, a spiritually aware person would have seen it but been unable to respond, but Uryu was neither of those. His **Ginrei Kojaku** formed around his right hand in an instant and he fired an arrow just as she released her own. The two projectiles collided in midair, disintegrating upon contact with each other.

The dark ranger stared at Uryu before a small smile appeared on her pale grey skin. Strafing around Uryu, whose eyes never strayed from her weapon, she clapped softly, "My, my, that was quite impressive. I didn't even see you draw your weapon but to also fire a projectile also the same trajectory as to stop my own speaks for your skills. But I wonder, just how many arrows can you block before one slips through?"

Uryu jumped back as several arrows struck the ground. Skidding to a stop, he grimaced as he saw several more arrows flying towards him. Running to the side to avoid them, he was only slightly surprised when he saw the dark ranger keeping pace a couple dozen meters away from him, that infernal grin plastered to her face.

"You can run boy, but can you fight?"

When she released her next salvo Uryu fired his own arrows in retaliation, blocking each and every one of them. This exchange continued for about ten seconds before Uryu pushed off the ground and increased the distance from her.

"You managed to block every arrow I fired," she complimented him while trying to ignore the strange aversion his bow was giving off, "Tell me something, how did you manage to solidify your mana into arrows without having them disperse upon leaving your bow?"

"_Mana? Could that be this world's term for spiritual energy?"_ Shaking his head he replied, "Should we really be having this conversation in the middle of our battle? It does seem a little low-class."

"No," she agreed, "I just find myself quite curious as to your abilities. As I already asked you, just how many of my arrows can you block before you're overwhelmed."

The dark ranger drew her next arrow slowly, confusing Uryu and setting his nerves on edge. As she nocked the arrow the corners of her mouth curled upwards, his eyes widened as he realized what she was doing. Quickly getting his own bow ready, he fired dozens of arrows at the same time she released the arrow. His concern was warranted as the singular arrow split into dozens of magical arrows. Both of their arrows collided in midair, created dozens of small bursts of light as each pair was disintegrated upon contact.

As he concentrated on blocking all of her arrows, Uryu's mind raced as he tried to think of a plan. Contrary to what he said to Ichigo in Hueco Mundo, he cannot fire 1,200 arrows simultaneously at whim. To exceed everything and fire at his absolute maximum requires utmost concentration as well as an opponent whose attacks cannot harm him. In this case, the dark ranger's arrows were all being aimed at vital organs and area and had enough force behind them to pierce through his **blut** with ease.

Trying to increase the distance between them, Uryu took off in a run only to see the dark ranger keep up with him while continually firing arrows, _"Here I was hoping for a challenge. This is getting frustrating. I cannot go on the offensive without her attacks breaking through. My __**blut**__ was designed solely to stop blunt force trauma like zanpakuto, not piercing attacks like arrows. Furthermore, I need to finish this soon. There is no doubt the other dark rangers will notice her disappearance and investigate."_

His chance at retaliation came about when he noticed a split second slip in her finger on her bow that caused her arrows to slightly veer off course for a second. That was all the time he needed to go on the offensive though. Instead of blocking the incoming arrows, he used his speed to barely maneuver around them and close in on the dark ranger. As he got closer to her, she grit her teeth and jumped backwards, but not quick enough.

"Try not to take this too personally," he gloated, paraphrasing her earlier insult.

Cursing under her breath as his arrows overwhelmed her own and pushed on towards her, the dark ranger attempted to blend into the shadows in order to evade the attack but was shocked when she found her ability not working. Twisting and breaking into a run, she weaved and dodged as Uryu's arrows crashed into the ground around her. Turning her head, she saw that one last arrow was aimed directly at her. Quickly drawing her short sword, she attempted to deflect the arrow only to find herself being pushed back along the ground.

"_Where the hell is this power coming from?"_ she thought as she tried to arrest her movement, _"There is no way an arrow, mana or not, should be this powerful."_

With a yell she managed to push the arrow to the side. Looking around, she was surprised when Uryu was gone. Eyes darting back and forth, she attempted to find him only to be shocked when a single arrow shot straight down from the sky and pierced through her left foot, pinning it to the ground.

Landing softly on the ground, Uryu stood in silence with his bow held out. He always found incapacitating someone to be way more difficult than killing them. Killing was a final solution since his opponent would never get back up to attack again. Incapacitated opponents had the chance to break out of his trap sooner than he wanted. Her slight distraction as he went on the offensive gave him the opportunity he needed. After firing his initially burst he jumped into the air and fired a single arrow that was designed to cause minimal damage while pinning the target and preventing it from moving. As he went to leave before she freed herself, a piercing scream rent through the air. Spinning around, the sight he saw caused him to almost dismiss his bow in shock.

The dark ranger was screaming and kneeling on the ground while gripping her left leg. The arrow he pinned her foot to the ground with had changed from the normal light blue color to a bright white and was having an effect he had never witnessed before. The grey and pale flesh around the arrow seemed to be dissolving away slowly but he could tell that it seemed to be accelerating as it went. The dark ranger seemed to be unable to neither touch the arrow nor move her foot if her look of terror was anything to go by.

With a quick snap of his fingers the arrow shattered and the dark ranger collapsed mercifully to the ground. When he was sure she wasn't getting up, he held his hands in front of his body, _"What the hell is going on with my powers? Never have my attacks had such an effect. If this is what is going to happen while I'm here, I need to be careful with who I attack."_

His head snapped to attention when he heard shouts coming from the Bulwark, _"Apparently the rest of them know where I am. Just great. With the surprise gone and Lindsay having abandoned me I guess I need to go with the direct approach."_

Jumping down and sprinting towards the Bulwark he was shocked when he found both arrows and fireballs aimed at him. Dodging around the haphazardly aimed spells, he materialized his bow to deflect the continuous stream of arrows when he saw a dark ranger running towards him. With rage in her eyes, she pulled back her bow and released an arrow that separated into twelve magical arrows like the other dark ranger. As he prepared to stop them, his eyes widened in shock when he saw two dark rangers appear on either side of him.

Skidding, he attempted to jump backwards when he heard something whistle through the grass briefly. Turning around, he saw that the remaining four dark rangers had surrounded him from the back, all of them with arrows pointed at him.

"How the-"

The various magical and physical attacks merged as they coalesced on his position, causing an explosion that clouded the area in a thick smoke. The dark rangers slowly moved around the smoke, their bows aimed at the level where Uryu's heart would be.

"Did we get him?" one asked.

"No human could have survived an attack like that," another one boasted.

The dark ranger in charge of the brigade at the Bulwark was not so easily convinced, "Do not celebrate just yet. You all heard the screams of pain from our sister but moments ago. If this human was able to commit such an atrocity on one of us then we should not relax until his broken and bloody body is laying at our feet."

As several of the dark rangers slowly walked towards the smoke, Uryu made his move. With a quick application of **Hirenkyaku**, he burst out of the smoke towards the leader and buried his elbow into her stomach.

"H-How?" she gasped.

Uryu stood there with a harsh look in his eyes. His quincy outfit, once pristine and white, was now covered in burn marks with more than a few cuts and tears but he himself was not injured.

"That is none of your concern."

He attempted to follow up his attack with an uppercut but the dark ranger recovered quicker then he anticipated. Dodging under the punch, she snapped her leg out and connected with Uryu's side. Rolling with the attack, he pushed off the ground and spun around in midair. Just as he landed on the grass he used a second burst of **Hirenkyaku** to teleport himself hundreds of feet closer to the Bulwark.

"After him!"

As he took his first steps after teleporting, Uryu was startled when he felt an arrow fly close to his cheek. _"They were able to follow my movement as soon as I reappeared? Could they be getting used to the speed in such a short interval?"_

The dark rangers were not the only ones attacking him. Once the other residents of the Bulwark saw that he managed to get by them, they prepared to attack him. The mages and warlocks prepared to cast spells while the warriors rushed towards him with their weapons brandished.

While the defenders of the Bulwark were prepared to fight Uryu, he had other ideas. Where he came from the undead didn't just rise out of the ground and start talking to you. Sure they existed in those cheap horror movies but this was real life and he had no idea what to do. At the moment he just needed to break through the Bulwark and move on. Easily spinning around a warrior's strike he said, "I'm sorry but I don't have the time to deal with you people right now."

He continued to easily dodge around the heavy weapons, using their own momentum against them. Knowing that the rangers were closing in fast, he made a break for the only gate leading to the plaguelands and rushed through it. As he passed through it he turned and shot an arrow at the iron chains holding the gate up, causing it to come crashing down.

"_That should buy me some time."_

About ten seconds later the dark rangers reached the Bulwark. Without stopping or slowing down, the raced through and easily jumped over the gate into the plaguelands after Uryu. The residents and merchants watching them pass through noticed that the normally stoic or haughty dark rangers were all seething in rage or had murderous looks on their undead faces.

One of the dark rangers stopped briefly to talk to a priest of the Argent Dawn, "You there, priest. I have need of your services."

The priest nodded and asked, "What is the matter?"

"The one we are chasing has greatly injured our sister. She can be found on a ridge about one thousands feet from here. When we return I expect for her to be healed.

The priest tried to argue with the dark ranger but she was already gone. Sighing she turned to her colleagues, "Come. We have an injured patient to find."

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* * *

The feeling of consciousness returned slowly to the dark ranger. Noticing she was lying on her back, she attempted to sit up and remember what happened. The last thing she should remember was dodging that human's attacks only for something to impact her foot a second later. After that, all she could recollect was a feeling of absolute pain and terror. Gripping her head in pain from the memories, she tried to get out of the bed only for a pair of hands to firmly push down on her shoulders.

"It would be best for you not to move just yet. The damage you received from your battle was extensive and has not yet fully healed."

As the world around her swam into focus, the dark ranger realized that she was laying in one of the Argent Dawn tents scattered around the Bulwark. While she had been in her once or twice before for various reasons, she had never once been a patient, _"A new first for me."_ When she stopped her efforts to get up, the night elf priest sighed and let go of her. Standing up, she walked over to a table across from her bed and grabbed a thick roll of bandages.

"Where are my sisters?" she asked with authority.

"If you mean the other dark rangers that were here they left in pursuit of a human."

"In pursuit?" she asked in surprise, "They didn't kill him?"

"I'm afraid not. From what I could see, he managed to outrun them and make it into the plaguelands."

Unable to lie down anymore, she sat up on her elbows against the priest's directions, "How badly was I injured?"

The night elf priest sighed, "The damage you received to your left foot was serious. In all my years of treating wounds I have never seen such a thing," she explained as she started to wrap the dark ranger's foot. "Whatever happened to you vaporized the flesh in your foot in a circular pattern before slowly expanding outwards. I was able to heal it but it's going to take a while."

"What does that mean?"

Confusion crossed the priest's face before it dawned on her what the dark ranger was asking about, "I think you'll make a full recovery. The attack was stopped before the damage got too extensive. I healed it the best I could but I recommend you not do any strenuous activities for at least two weeks."

With a cold glare, she looked at the priest and said, "Get out."

When the priest quickly walked out of the tent to leave her alone, the dark ranger closed her eyes and lay back down. When she felt a subtle shift in the air around her, she opened her eyes and said, "Greetings Lady Sylvanas."

The Banshee Queen materialized with a smirk, the shadows around her falling off her form like water. Walking towards the bed-ridden dark ranger she mirthfully said, "I see that you paid the price for your hubris Cyndia."

Cyndia glared at her but didn't dare speak against her queen, "I did not expect for his power to be so strong. I have never met a human with such quick reflexes, tact, and strength."

"Clearly you did not," Sylvanas quipped. After taking a moment to examine Cyndia's foot she said, "I take it the plan was mostly a success?"

She nodded, "Yes my lady, I allowed him to notice my presence like you suggested in order to evaluate his skills against a worthy opponent. I admit I underestimated him but how was I to expect him to be able to fire a dozen those arrows of his simultaneously?"

When Sylvanas didn't say anything she continued, "I could tell he was holding back so I decided to try and push him to his limits. Instead of collapsing under the strain he actually managed to find an opening and counterattack. I dodged all his attacks only for one final arrow to pierce through my foot."

Sylvanas's keen senses picked up hesitation in Cyndia's voice, "I did not think my dark rangers were cowards. You will tell me what happened."

Cyndia looked away from Sylvanas for a moment before answering, "It felt like my very soul was being torn apart, bit by bit. Dying to that bastard Arthas and then being brought back was painful enough but what that human did to me was excruciating. I'm sure that if he didn't willingly stop his attack my very being would have soon been obliterated."

"Interesting…" was all that came out of Sylvanas mouth as the banshee queen stared off into space, "I must wonder why your reaction to the attack was different than your sister's."

Sylvanas's mind continued her line of thought, _"Perhaps it was because unlike this time, where he purposely drove his attack through her flesh, he only aimed in her general direction. That allowed her to dodge and only have the attack pierce through her side instead of getting embedded within her, minimizing the effect it had on her body."_

After a moment Sylvanas turned away from Cyndia and walked towards the entrance to the tent. As she was just about to leave she turned around and said, "I do trust you will keep what transpired today a secret. Your pride as a dark ranger will be the least of your concerns if I find out you betrayed my trust."

"You have my word dark lady."

"Good." With that said, the entrance to the tent flapped once and Sylvanas was gone.

* * *

...

* * *

The quiet silence that permeated the western plaguelands was destroyed as Uryu crashed through the tree line and reached the road. He looked around frantically for a moment before taking off to the east. As he ran a snapping sound to his right drew his attention. Without prompt he summoned his bow and fired off several shots to block the dark ranger's arrows. The exchange left a cloud of pulverized wood and metal in the arrow, which gave the second dark ranger a smokescreen to shoot through. Uryu, realizing the danger that the dark ranger was if he couldn't see her arrows, slid down on his knees and allowed them to pass over him within inches of his head.

Sensing a disturbance below him, he back flipped off the ground as a dark ranger attempted to **shadow strike** him from behind. Once in the air he realized that the initial attack was a distraction as several dozen arrows flew through the trees to his left at him. Shooting as many arrows as he could to stop them he eventually resorted to using **Ginrei Kojaku** as a makeshift shield. While it blocked every arrow, the reverberations from the transfer of kinetic energy left his arm tingling and numb.

"_Note to self, don't ever do that again."_

Landing on the ground, the forest was eerily calm. Suspicious as to why the dark rangers were not attacking him, he tried to find any trace of them but was soon forced to stop when he was unable to find any trace of the forsaken. "Where did they go?" he muttered. Truthfully, he was a little grateful for this break in the fighting. His constant use of **Hirenkyaku** to avoid their combination attacks and traps was starting to leave him spiritual exhausted.

"_I can't keep using **Hirenkyaku** like this or I will most definitely lose. Something in this world is causing my usage of **Hirenkyaku** to drain my spiritual energy at a much greater rate then normally."_

After a few minutes Uryu decided to continue moving but kept his guard up for any further ambushes. As his heel hit the road a large orange glyph appeared on the ground surrounding him. As the glowing intensified and the temperature increased, Uryu found himself blinded by the intense light and covered his face with his arms. Sprinting forward, he leapt into the air just as the **explosive trap** went off, encasing everything within ten yards in a firestorm. Uryu's body was thrown forward by the explosion, causing him to crash through several branches before skidding to a stop on the ground.

Coughing in pain, he shakily got back up, _"That was unexpected. If I didn't throw myself into the air like that I would have worse injuries than some bruises."_ As he stood up, the true extent of the damage done to him could be seen. His entire right sleeve was gone, exposing slightly burned skin. His left sleeve was covered in cuts from arrows and was singed from the explosion. The rest of his quincy uniform was covered in scorch marks with several patches burned off.

Leaning with his back against a tree, he was not surprised to see a dark ranger appear in front of him. What did surprise him was that she was not gloating or trying to attack him.

Sighing, he raised his right arm and formed his **Ginrei Kojaku**, "I can see you're impressed I survived your trap. It was a brilliant trap; I didn't see any sign of it until it was about to go off. The only problem was that the explosion took too long to occur. I had enough time to throw my body clear of the blast radius."

"Talk all you want human but we will make you suffer for what you did to our sister," the dark ranger seethed as her eight sisters appeared from the shadows, surrounding Uryu.

He looked around at the dark rangers once and smiled. Grunting, he pushed himself off the tree, causing the dark rangers to quickly aim their bows. "Well," he said, "It seems I have won this battle."

"Won?" the dark ranger asked, "Do you see that you are surrounded? Have your injuries addled your mind?"

Uryu adjusted his glasses, "I would take a look at your feet."

The dark ranger looked down just as a white circular sigil blazed into existence. Within a second she was surrounded in a cage of white spiritual energy with spikes pointing towards her.

With fear in her voice she asked, "What is this?"

"It is called **Seligen Spitzen**. It traps an opponent in a cage of spiritual energy that harms them every time they attempt to escape. While it seems like an excellent ability there are a few drawbacks. First it takes a long time to prepare it and second it is basically useless on anyone of comparable or greater power than my own, such as you. However, judging by your adversion to my…mana…it should be able to hold you no matter how strong you are."

While Uryu was explaining his ability, the other dark rangers attempted to free their sister. After one touched the cage and suffered a severe burn to her hand as a result, they decided to come after Uryu instead.

"Here is what is going to happen," he said to stop the dark rangers, "I put enough spiritual energy into the cage to make sure it lasts for at least three weeks if she cannot touch it. By that time she will either be dead from exposure or something not dead will come and kill her. The cage will automatically shatter if I am willingly separated from it by at least two thousand meters. You are going to allow me to leave here peacefully and in return your friend will survive with only her pride damaged."

The dark rangers wanted to attack Uryu but were held back by the fact that they had nothing to use against him. Sure they might be able to kill him but their sister wouldn't be freed. What was worse was that only a living person could touch the cage without getting harmed and that was not an answer. Lady Sylvanas had been adamant that the other races in the Horde not capture a dark ranger.

The captured dark ranger grit her teeth and spat, "Leave human. You have managed to do the impossible and lived through our hunt but know this. We will not stop hunting you no matter where you go or hide. You will never be safe from us."

By the time she was finished talking Uryu was already walking away. With a wave of his hand he said, "I don't doubt that but I do think that you will find it rather hard to take me down if you try again. I have spent our battle learning your techniques and how your muscles move during them. Next time we fight I will be able to negate each and every one of your attacks. Good bye."

As he sprinted away from the dark rangers Uryu managed a small smirk. When he had told them the cage would vanish when he was two thousand meters away, he actually meant five thousand. He was sure that as soon as **Seligen Spitzen** was gone they would immediately track him down again but would not play with him. They will attempt to kill him quickly and in his current condition, they will probably succeed.

The minutes passed as he traveled south and he was no closer to finding out where he was then when he started. What was interesting though was that Lindsay was nowhere to be seen. _"She either got killed going through the Bulwark or she betrayed me. In retrospect I don't really care what happened to her right now. If she did betray me, I managed to outwit her trap and get through the Bulwark in one piece."_

"What's this?"

He was so deep in thought that he almost missed a vine and brush-covered signpost lying on the ground. Reaching down and picking it up, he pulled off years of plant life and read it, "Andorhal: Northern Entrance – 1 Mile."

Dropping the sign post back on the ground and standing up, Uryu could see the ruins of a large city in the distance, "Andorhal huh? I know I won't like what I find there and I cannot head back since those women are hunting me down. So I guess my only choice is to head forward."

* * *

...

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**Abilities**

******Seligen Spitzen (Blessed Spikes)**: A quincy area of effect trap that takes a long time to set up. If the target is sufficiently weaker than the Quincy they will be trapped within a cage of white spiritual energy with spikes pointing inwards ready to skewer them if they try to escape. It's effectiveness is limited by the range of the Quincy, the strength of the opponent, and the time needed to set it up.**  
**

**Hirenkyaku(Flying Screen Step/God Step):** The quincy equivalent of a shinigami's Shunpo or arrancar's Sonido. The quincy gathers spiritual energy under their feet and rides it to the desired location. The more energy gathered the faster they travel. The only limits to this ability is that the quincy must see where they want to go.


	17. Chapter 17: Ichigo II

**I do not own the characters, ideas, and/or places from either Bleach or World of Warcraft and their respective universes. Tite Kubo and Blizzard® own them respectively. Any original characters in the story belong to me. Any comparisons to other fan fiction or series characters are entirely coincidental and not intentional.**

Hello - Normal Speech

_Hello_ – Normal Thought

**Hello** – Spells Cast/ Demons / Titans/ Inner Hollow/ Dragons / Arrancar Released Form

_**Hello**_ – Thoughts of Demons / Titans/ Inner Hollow/ Dragons / Arrancar Released Form

**I love reviews. To see that someone took the time to log in (or not) and criticize my work is fantastic. I don't care if the review is positive or negative as long as they give good reasons for their response I'm happy. I have gotten reviews that pointed out plot holes, questions I didn't answer, or simply things that I forgot.**

**PM or say in a review whether you prefer this method: One character per chapter or my earlier method. Depending on what is said I will go back and add material to the earlier sections (Chapters 9 – 11) in order to make them full-blown chapters.**

**AUTHOR NOTE #1: **I may make a chapter containing all of my Original Characters in order to give more history about them. Do note, if I do that, that it would always be a work in progress. I will not give information about them that I have not already written in my story.

**Reviews**

**1.** **Blinded in a bolthole:** So... the Holy Arrow user managed to defeat the Dark Rangers on his own, I wonder why he didn't use that Licht Regen? The shower of Holy arrows can decimate the undead almost as fast as lesser Hollows. Was it the lack of enough spiritual energy? Also the Quincy have powers similar (if more advanced comparatively) to Blood Elves mana tap, will Uryu use such methods too?

If you read the first part of the chapter you would see that Uryu is sickened by the effect his arrows have on the dark rangers. While he not against using his abilities against the Scourge or evil creatures he will not use them on the forsaken simply because they are in the Horde. He did not use Licht Regen for this exact reason. As for the Quincy mana tap I think Uryu will not need to use it since the Blood Elves gained that ability after the Sunwell was destroyed. Since Uryu still has the source of his powers he does not need to drain mana (maybe rarely).

**2. Diana: **What about the chapter with Chad in it? Will it be the same or are there some changes? I'm loving this story more and more...I have read almost all Bleach crossovers and your story is one of my favorites

The chapter with Chad in it (Chapter 14 now) does have new changes. The entire first part of the chapter is rehashed from the chapters 9-11 sections.

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**Author's Note: I have updated the final section of this chapter for two reasons. First was that i wrote it about an hour before i posted the chapter and i was not happy at all with the way it turned out. It felt a little rushed at the time and I don't like to give a rushed chapter to those that read my story. The second reason is that A LOT of people, both reviewers and PMs, were upset with what i did to Ichigo's zanpakuto and I agree. Therefore I changed things around to let him keep Zangetsu the way it was but with one of the powers granted to him from the knight earlier than i wanted to.  
**

**Secret of the Dragonflights Arc**

**Chapter 17: Trek through Fire and Water**

Bolvar let out a small yawn as he entered the Stormwind Keep royal library. It was still too early in the morning for the sun to illuminate the large room so he carefully made walked past shelves of books towards the large rain-covered windows. The storm arrived late the previous afternoon and he could not remember a storm this bad for at least the last ten years or so. By the sound of the rain falling against the granite walls of the keep and the wind shaking the windows he did not think it was going to let up any time soon.

"_What a great start to the day indeed."_

He stood there in silence for a couple of minutes before he shivered. It may have been summer but the cold rain and wind made the normally cool keep into something that felt like an icebox. Looking around for a moment, he turned and walked towards the large fireplace located at the corner of the room. Tossing a few pieces of wood from the nearby stack into the fireplace he then picked up one of the matches from on top of the mantle and dropped it onto the dry wood. He did not have to wait long for a fire to erupt. Rubbing his hands a couple of times near the flames, he turned and walked towards one of the leather chairs near the fireplace and sat down.

Staring at the crackling flames, various thoughts raced through his mind dealing with the events that have occurred over the past couple of days. Reports have slowly filtered into the city through the traders and merchants passing through that several odd people had been spotted all over Azeroth with several of them exhibiting strange and unique powers previously unknown, _"There is a deeper connection to everything going on but I just can't wrap my finger around it. How are all these events connected?"_

The door to the library creaked open and he heard the pitter-patter of footsteps approach him, "So you were the person that woke me up. I never thought I'd see the day that Bolvar Fordragon was up before dawn."

Without turning around he said, "And a good morning to you as well Katrana. I take it that whatever was the cause of your mood yesterday has been resolved?"

Katrana Prestor scowled, as she knew exactly what he was referring to. After her encounter with Bloodhaze in the royal gardens yesterday evening she entered a foul mood that no one dared to interrupt except for the man sitting in front of her and she could not kill him, at least not yet. Sitting down in the chair next to him, she sighed and turned to him, "You look troubled Bolvar. Something the matter?"

"You could say that. I received a message by gryphon from the captain of the men I sent to the Duskwoods."

"Are you referring to my reports of that death knight?"

He nodded his head, "Yes, the captain arrived sometime yesterday afternoon just as the storm hit."

Katrana pondered where he was going with this, "What is the problem Bolvar?"

"The problem here Katrana is that he felt the need to…improvise…the orders he was given."

Genuine confused crossed her face, "Improvise?"

"He found the boy without any problem. Apparently he had trekked all the way across the Duskwoods and ended up at the Darkshire inn. When he announced his presence, the boy threw a table or something like that at him and fled the town. Instead of simply chasing after him, he felt the need to try and arrest every man and woman staying at the inn."

Katrana grimaced and mentally cursed the captain's foolish behavior. When he managed to intercept him before he left, she gave him direct orders to apprehend the boy with the causalities kept to the absolute minimal. He would then arrange for the boy to have an unfortunate 'accident' on the way to Stormwind so he could be secretly brought before her and her brethren to find out the source of his power. Of course the captain didn't know about that last part. The second he would have handed the boy over to her was the moment the captain lost his usefulness to her.

"_I will need to talk with the captain soon to make sure he stays…silent about my involvement."_

"What do you plan to do to deal with this problem?"

Bolvar sat in contemplation, "I've thought it over for quite a while and I believe that the best course of action would be to wait for him to return to Stormwind. Once he arrives I will have him suspended from his duties and detained until a full inquiry into his actions can be made."

"Don't you think you're overreacting Bolvar? We might not know what was going through his mind when he tried to arrest all those people but I believe I have an idea for his reasoning that may shed some light on this dilemma," she said with a small frown.

His response was harsh, "I do not think I overreacted."

"Must you be so dense this early in the morning?" she sighed. A roll of thunder burst through the air before she continued, "I don't see the issue with the captain's behavior. His approach may have been a little brutish and over the top but he thought he was dealing with a powerful death knight. From what SI:7 has been able to gather even the initiates hold vast control over necromantic magic and can enthrall humans to do their bidding. The captain probably thought everyone there was under the boy's control."

Bolvar looked like he was about to agree before he frowned, "When I woke this morning after thinking about it all last night I thought something similar to what you just said. However now I'm starting to doubt my earlier conclusion."

She scowled, "What is there to doubt Bolvar?"

Getting up with a small grunt, he walked towards the fire. After staring at it for a few moments with only the rain pounding outside the keep breaking the silence he said, "It's just that several things about this whole affair don't seem to be adding up. The odd behavior of the men and women at the inn who you claim were enthralled, the boy's overall appearance and its difference from records of death knights, and his reluctance to fight and kill; I'm not sure we are actually dealing with a death knight."

Facing the fire Bolvar did not see Katrana's eyes briefly shift to yellow and black slits in anger. Quickly fixing her appearance she asked calmly, "You don't seriously believe that? You cannot assume something of that magnitude based simply on what your morals are saying. There have been people in the past that have tricked everyone until the last moment. I'm sure you remember Garona?"

Bolvar's body stiffened as he recalled the assassin that murdered the previous king of Stormwind, Llane Wrynn.

"You know better then to bring up something like that Katrana."

"I had to in order for you to see the error of the path you were taking before it was too late."

"If I am going down the wrong line of thinking then why did that boy not attack the captain and his men when he was discovered? You know as well I do that during the Alliance's raids into Naxxramas the death knights encountered did everything in their power to fight. They did no flee, attempt to reason or surrender and fought until their heads and limbs were removed. This boy fled the first opportunity he had and did so without killing any of the men. I don't know about you but that seems to be behavior quite unlike a death knight's."

Katrana's lack of a reply caused Bolvar to turn around. Instead of sitting in the chair she was making her way to one of the windows. Without a second thought she undid the latch and threw it wide open, letting in the howling rain and wind. Squinting as the wind roared through the room he shouted, "What do you think you're doing?"

After a moment she reached out into the rain and slammed the window closed. When she turned around he saw that she had one of those damned smirks on her face. "I don't know what you are yelling about," she smugly said as she sauntered back towards him, "It was harmless rain and wind. While it may seem dangerous there is nothing to worry about. The purpose of my demonstration was to show that you overreacted to the situation that did not require such a response."

He scowled, "I think there is quite a large difference between overreacting to opening a window during a storm and deciding whether or not someone is a death knight based solely upon one person's account."

"True," she admitted, "But moving past that issue for the moment, let's decide what to do with this rash captain. What he did was stupid and idiotic, that I agree with, but none of the people in the inn were arrested or captured by him. Since everyone worked out this time perhaps you can go lenient on him with a warning or something similar?"

Bolvar scoffed and locked eyes with her, "If everyone disobeyed orders because they felt they could do a better job then the kingdom would fall into anarchy within weeks. There is a chain of command for a reason Katrana and the fact that this captain decided to go off on a tangent worries me. Granted if it does turn out that boy is a death knight and was controlling those people I will issue a public apology to the man but he still disobeyed by orders. Once he arrives he will be detained and questioned."

"Detained and questioned? Aren't you once again overreacting Bolvar?"

"No I'm not. Something is going on here and this captain is a part of it. I will not stand for someone countermanding my orders and potentially putting the whole kingdom at risk. I'm going to find out who he talked to before leaving and then-"

He abruptly stopped speaking as a glazed look entered his eyes and he slumped forward. After a second or two he shook his head and rubbed his eyes, "Ugh, what just happened?"

"We were just arguing about how to punish the captain that disobeyed your orders in Darkshire."

Bolvar looked confused for a moment before his mind finished clearing. With familiar anger in his eyes, "We cannot support officers disobeying orders. Once the captain and his men return I want him arrested and thrown into the stockades. Perhaps spending a few days there will help him learn to obey orders."

As she watched him leave the library and close the door behind him, Katrana blinked and her dark blue eyes were replaced by black and yellow slits. With her face stretched into a smile she reached into her chest and pulled out a necklace. Holding it up to the light of the fire she marveled at its beauty and simplicity.

At first glance the necklace seemed to be plain and bland but past the various draconic enchantments and illusions was something more sinister. Carved out a piece of elementium the size of her palm and plated with truesilver and mithril to increase its magical properties, it was truly a sight to behold. With ruby eyes shining with hidden malevolence, the two serpentine dragons carved into the elementium seemed like a perfect accessory for a woman such as her.

Clenching her fist around the Drakefire Amulet she frowned, _"The spell I'm using to control Bolvar is losing its potency faster than expected. In fact the spell seemed to lose its strength much quicker after my confrontation with that boy. If the spell decays at the current rate, within a couple of weeks I will no longer be able to influence Bolvar's thoughts."_

The insidious whispers throughout her mind that she confused for her own thoughts reminded her that the boy was a large threat to her plans. Chuckling softly she tucked the amulet back between her breasts and looked out the window towards the docks in the distance, "That boy has the potential for being a large thorn in my side but he is nowhere near Stormwind at the moment and besides, it's not like anything will matter after a few days…"

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* * *

Ichigo woke up when the wagon hit a hole in the road and immediately scowled. While it appeared to be morning, the rain that started the previous day had not yet let up and in fact appeared to have increased in intensity. When a loud and obnoxious noise came from his side he turned his head and saw that Hoiran had fallen asleep at some point and was now snoring loudly. Annoyed, he took his elbow and jabbed it where he thought the dwarf's ribs would be.

"What the hell's going on? I swear I didn't know it was your sister!"

"Relax," Ichigo said with a chuckle, "I just woke you up to tell you we're almost at this Stormwind place."

Hoiran looked up the road and let out a nervous laugh, "It appears we're close and between the two of us, please don't tell anyone about what I just said."

Ichigo nodded, "Yeah, yeah. My mouth's shut."

The two of them sat in the back of the wagon as it shambled towards the gates of Stormwind. Looking ahead, Ichigo saw that despite the early hour and terrible weather there was already a long line of people and wagons attempting to get into the city. The guards at the gate seemed to be handling it quite well though. After what seemed like hours of sitting in the rain and wind the guards finally reached their wagon. One of them looked at Ichigo and Hoiran before turning to Gogan.

"Papers please."

Gogan nodded to the guard and reached into a waterproof box under his seat. Picking it up he opened it and handed the guard three pieces of parchment. Without pause the guard grabbed them from the dwarf and scanned through them.

"Gogan Stormpike?"

"That would be me."

"Hoiran Stormpike?" The guard looked at the back of the wagon, "Are you his brother perhaps?"

"Yeah, that idiot up front is my younger brother."

"Ichigo Kuro…Kurosa…"

"It's pronounced Kurosaki."

The guard looked up at Ichigo, "That is quite the odd name Mr. Kurosaki. In my years of working here I do not believe I have ever met someone with such a unique name before."

Ichigo waved him off, "My dad decided to name me something special and I haven't forgiven him for it yet."

The guard nodded and moved back to Gogan, "It says that you and your brother are traders of household commodities while your friend there is your bodyguard."

"Aye. That is correct."

"Do you mind if I inspect your merchandise for any contraband?"

Gogan shrugged, "That would be fine. I've got nothing to hide from the authorities. The only thing you're keeping me from is a nice warm bed. This rain is really killing me."

The guard motioned with his head to several other guards to search the back of the wagon. After ordering both Hoiran and Ichigo to step out of the wagon, the jumped inside and began rifling through the boxes. After several minutes of waiting, the last of the guards hopped out and turned to the one by Gogan.

"It's all clean sir."

"Well then Mr. Stormpike, it appears that everything is in order. You are now free to enter Stormwind."

With a flick of his wrists the horses pulling the wagon took off towards the city. Ichigo waited until they were out of earshot before turning to Hoiran and whispered, "What the hell was that?"

The dwarf looked confused, "What was what?"

"How the hell did you manage to trick the guards to believe you are merchants? I thought you were mercenaries?"

"Oh that," Hoiran laughed, "It's a funny story. Several years ago Gogan and I were on an expedition to retrieve some priceless heirloom or something from Gnomeregan. In the city we found this gnome about to be killed by some radioactive troggs. When we killed the troggs the gnome was so ecstatic that before running away asked us for our names. Confused, we did so and moved on. Several days later we received a package that contained several high-quality forged documents in our names and several blank ones. It turns out that gnome we saved was one of the best forgers on Azeroth."

A large fork of lightning lit up the sky as Hoiran finished talking. Leaning back against the wagon as they crossed across the Valley of Heroes, Ichigo stared at the statues, "Are they supposed to be important?"

Hoiran looked shocked, "Are you daft? These five statues represent five of the greatest heroes the Alliance has ever had. They risked everything they had to make sure the Horde or any other force would not destroy us."

"So they're all dead?"

"Well, that's a funny story. When they were carved they were all thought to have died but three of them were found to still be living in Outlands safe and sound. Caused quite a bit of a scandal really from what I heard. Apparently it is looked down upon to create a statue of someone if they are still alive."

The wagon and its occupants soon reached the entrance to the main part of Stormwind. Once they arrived Hoiran and Gogan said their farewells to Ichigo.

"I'm afraid this is where we part ways Ichigo. You need to search around for someone that may know more about what you saw while we need to sell the cargo we took before finding out stuff of our own. I don't like how a dragon appeared in the Duskwoods and I especially don't like how it was working with a death knight. If you stick around for a few days we will come and give you everything we find out. Until then stay off the radar."

Waving goodbye as the dwarf brothers maneuvered their wagon through the crowded streets, Ichigo turned around and walked into the busy trade district. The stormy weather had managed to dissuade most of the normal customers from going out but the streets were still fairly busy. While his face suggested that he was bored, in reality Ichigo was amazed at the sights around him. He found himself walking past stores selling a wide variety of weapons, armor and food to humans and people that didn't even look human.

"_I guess if there are dwarves then other fantasy races should be here too. Mizuiro would know more about this. All those hours of playing fantasy games make him perfect for this place."_

As he walked through the district and saw prices for the various items he sighed dejectedly, _"Those two idiots forgot to give me money."_

Hearing a commotion to his right, he turned and saw a crowd gathered around someone sitting down. Pushing past them he saw a line of adventurers in front of an orc. "What's going on?" he asked one of the bystanders.

"That's Korgol Crushskull of the Darkmoon Faire. While the faire is currently across the sea this time of year he showed up yesterday and started challenging people to feats of strength with a prize of 15 gold to anyone that bests him. Needless to say no one has managed to do so."

When he heard the orc yell "Next!" Ichigo turned and saw that a large night elf was walking away from the table holding his sore arm. Apparently Korgol's feat of strength was simply an arm wrestling contest.

"_Piece of cake,"_ he thought with a grin as he walked to the back of the line. The person in front of him, a large draenei, saw him get in line and attempted to make him leave.

"This isn't a place for children."

Ichigo gave the draenei a scowl in return, "Why don't you mind your own business?"

The draenei growled and turned to face forward. Once he wasn't being bothered anymore Ichigo adjusted his hood and folded his arms. After several minutes of hearing people getting their asses kicked in the rain he found himself in front of a mildly perplexed orc.

"You don't belong here child. This is a game for men. Come back in five years or so when you're all grown up."

Instead of arguing Ichigo sat down in the chair across from the orc, "Shut the hell up. I don't need you to give me life advice. I came here to kick your ass not to talk."

Korgol chuckled, "My, if every human was like you the orcs would be in big trouble. Very well then, I will indulge you."

As he put his large arm on the table, Ichigo reciprocated him and locked hands with him. A troll to the side sighed and held his hand over the table, "I don't feel so great letting a kid getting hurt but you insist so…GO!"

Korgol knew something was wrong when Ichigo's arm didn't budge. He had intended to win and let the kid go with only a bruised ego but it looked as if the kid was stronger than he appeared. "You're better then you look kid," he grunted as he put more effort into it, "But you are still going to lose."

Ichigo's arm slowly got pushed down to the mat before he smirked, "Sorry but you lose." With a yell he reversed the motion and pinned the orc's arm on the table with enough force to slightly crack it. As Korgol looked at him stunned, Ichigo stood up and took the bag of gold from the frozen troll, "Thanks for the fun."

Before he left the crowd he saw the same draenei who tried to stop him and waved the gold in front of him, "Who's the kid now?"

Leaving the crowd behind Ichigo tossed the bag of gold up and down a couple of times as he tried to figure out what to spend it on, _"What to buy? I don't need a weapon since I have Zangetsu and even if I did get one it wouldn't feel right. Perhaps a change of clothing would be appropriate. The wanted poster describes an orange haired boy wearing a black robe. If I change into something else besides my shihakusho I might escape unnoticed."_

As he window browsed the armor shops in the district he was dismayed to find that nothing suited him. All the armor he tried on just didn't feel right or when it did and he gave a few swings with Zangetsu the armor would restrict his movements. Just as he was about to give up something in the corner of his eye caught his attention. Turning to see what it was, he widened his eyes.

The armor on display looked unlike any of the fanciful armor that he had seen on the warriors in Stormwind. Instead of being weird shades of purple, red, brown and green it was colored a dark brown or black. The body of the armor was seemed to be form-fitting to the wearing to maximize movement in combat but once you reached the neck it branched into spikes that surrounded the neck of the wearer, preventing any strikes to the vulnerable flesh beneath. The helm covered everything but the eyes and ended with two large horns jutting out of the top at slightly different angles.

Greatly intrigued by this armor Ichigo entered the armor shop and looked around. Besides the dwarf behind the counter there was only a gnome and night elf browsing the various pieces of armor. When he turned around he saw that the besides the armor was a large greatsword. Held up off the ground by two hooks Ichigo could only wonder what normal human could be able to wield such a weapon.

"Can I help you sir?" the dwarf said as he saw Ichigo walk into his shop.

Still looking at the armor, this time from the back, Ichigo, "What can you tell me about that armor in the window?"

The dwarf looked around Ichigo at the armor before scoffing, "You don't want that rusted piece of crap. It's cursed."

"Cursed?"

The dwarf saw where Ichigo was going with this, "Oh not like that. You can touch it and move it around just fine. Just don't try to wear it or you'll burst into black and white flames and disintegrate into ash."

Ichigo stared at the armor some more before asking, "What's the deal with the armor?"

"Well, the story goes like this. Around two hundreds years ago a powerful and famous knight had a suit of armor crafted with the strength of adamantine but the brilliance of mithril. With his armor he followed around his lord through thick and thin and protected him as he travelled around the Eastern Kingdoms. One day they found themselves in front of a powerful fire elemental that the rumor says was Ragnaros himself. For seven days they fought against the elemental but were never able to give it the finishing blow. On the last day, tired and nearly dead from exhaustion, the king stood up and ordered his knight to stay back. Running towards the elemental he pierced his blade through its chest, destroying it and killing him. The knight was caught in the elemental's explosion and the still hot ashes blackened his armor from the once majestic silver to the dark black you see out there."

"What happened next?"

The dwarf shrugged, "The legend ends there. No one knows how the armor got cursed or if that is even the true story."

"How do you know about it then?"

"I may be a shopkeeper but I'm a dwarf. With a set of armor of that skill and quality you can bet your pants I would know everything there is to know about it."

The dwarf may have continued talking but Ichigo found himself enraptured by the armor. Just as his fingers touched its shoulder everything turned to black and the world fell apart around him.

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Ichigo groggily opened his eyes and found that he was no longer in the shop. Walking down the steps in front of him, he didn't recognize where he was at all. The ground around him was blackened and scorched with the dead and burnt husks of trees scattered throughout the area. Looking up, he saw that even the sky itself seemed to be on fire. As he explored his surroundings something fell in front of his face. Placing a hand out he looked up and saw that it was snowing. Catching one in his hand he saw that it was not snow falling, but ash.

"_Is this ash? Where am I?"_

"**Who you are?"**

He spun around at the sound of the voice. Standing several meters behind him, with his hands crossed over the end of a greatsword's hilt, was the suit of black armor from the shop. Its occupant's glowing orange eyes staring at him through the eyeholes in the helm.

"The name's Ichigo Kurosaki and I could ask you the same question."

"**You wish to know my name? You have not yet earned the right to hear it."**

Something about this conversation reminded Ichigo greatly of his first interaction with Zangetsu.

"Where am I? Are you a zanpakuto?"

"**I do not know what you are referring to. As for where you are…welcome to my hell."**

"Wait a second," Ichigo muttered, "Are you the knight from the story?"

The knight hesitated for a moment as the helm lowered subtly, **"I am he. After I failed my king I found myself cursed. Forever was I to burn in agony, a testament to being unable to save my lord. My only salvation was to find someone stronger than myself and to die against them. I search for many years up and down the land, fighting dozens upon dozens of warriors but the curse placed upon me gave me great strength and I found myself unable to be defeated. Eventually even the curse was unable to sustain my body and it faded away, leaving my soul trapped in my armor."**

Ichigo reached around and grabbed Zangetsu's hilt. Apparently it somehow made its way with him to this place, "What happened to the people that tried to wear your armor?"

"**I killed them."**

His eyes widened, "What?"

"**I did not kill them personally. The curse somehow changed when my body faded. Anyone who attempted to wear my armor would be judged. If they were found unworthy they were burned alive by the fire that cursed me. Those that have both the ability and strength to kill me are brought here to fight me. You are the first out of many to be found worthy to face me."**

A cocky smile crossed Ichigo's face, "So if I defeat you I get to wear your armor?"

"**Amongst other things but you cannot just defeat me. You must strike the life from my body."**

The silence between them was deafening. Ichigo stood there with his hand on Zangetsu's hilt while across from him the knight hefted the greatsword onto his shoulder. At some unseen signal both shinigami and knight flew at each other, their footsteps echoing along the gravely mountains around them. Within moments Ichigo's zanpakuto was clashing against the knight's greatsword in a great shower of sparks.

Gritting his teeth, Ichigo managed to force the knight to take a few steps back, "You're strong."

"**Not strong enough…"**

Ichigo's eyes widened as the knight reversed the momentum and slowly but surely began to push him backwards faster and faster.

"What the-"

"**YOU ARE NOT STRONG ENOUGH!"**

With a mighty yell the knight pushed against Ichigo, causing him to stumble back. Swinging his greatsword around he sliced it up through the air. Ichigo attempted to block it with Zangetsu but the power behind it rocketed him through the air and into one of the mountains around the clearing, causing a cascade of rubble and dust to come crashing out.

"**Where is the strength you possessed that enabled you to come here Ichigo Kurosaki?" **the knight yelled as he walked slowly towards where Ichigo was pulling himself out of the mountain, **"Why do you insult me by holding back?"**

"Bastard," Ichigo coughed through the dust, "What makes you think I'm holding anything back against you?"

The knight stared at him for a moment before he, with a speed Ichigo was unprepared for, appeared directly in front of him. Grabbing his shihakusho with a single hand the knight lifted Ichigo into the air. Before he could attempt to escape, the knight twisted around and threw him back towards the ground where the fight started. Ichigo managed to pivot before he hit the ground and landed on his feet. When he looked around for the knight he cursed and jumped back as a greatsword skewered the ground where he was just standing.

As he stumbled backwards Ichigo found himself on the defensive against a barrage of attacks. Wildly swinging his zanpakuto, he managed to block all the strikes only for the knight to punch him in the stomach.

"**I can sense that you are someone who holds back their strength when fighting. If your opponent has not done anything to those you cherish then there is no reason to kill them. That is what you are thinking. But all that fills me with is betrayal and shame. You are insulting me with your decision to rather perish then fight me at full strength. I have lived in perpetual agony for far too long and when I find a worthy opponent, I am dishonored to find that he is afraid of death."**

At that last comment Ichigo's eyes slammed open. He was a shinigami but he was afraid of death? When he invaded the Soul Society he put everything he had into it to rescue Rukia but even then, with everyone trying to kill him, he did not attempt to do the same. He could not find it in himself to strike the life from someone else simply because they were on the opposite side from him.

"_This is different though. This knight is already dead but unable to move on to the next world. Unless he is killed in combat he will remain trapped for all eternity."_

"You're right," Ichigo admitted as he got back to his feet and put some distance between them. With a focused look in his eyes he stared at the knight, "Everything you said was correct. I am afraid of killing my opponents. What allows me to decide who is right and wrong and who should live and die? But now I see that this fight is different. There is a clear-cut decision that needs to be made. Prepare yourself. From now on I will be giving you everything I have."

"**Yes,"** the knight muttered as he saw the look in Ichigo's eyes change, **"This is what I've been waiting for all these years. The look in your eyes is that of a true warrior. Now come! Let us have a true fight!"**

As the knight rushed at him, Ichigo gripped Zangetsu's hilt with both hands. Breathing in and out slowly he began to gather spiritual energy into his sword, _"This is taking far longer than usual. I suppose I can no longer rely on throwing attacks left and right from now on."_

"Here is the end you've been waiting for!" he shouted as Zangetsu glowed blue and white. With a scream he swung his blade down.

"Getsuga Tenshou!"

The knight was stopped in his tracks as the crescent of spiritual energy collided with his body, creating a large explosion. Ichigo didn't let up and continued to pour spiritual energy into the attack, changing it from a single wave of energy to a continuous beam.

"_**Yes…"**_ he thought as his armor began cracking from the power of the attack, _**"This is exactly how I should die…at the hands of a powerful warrior."**_ As he began to disintegrate, one last thought crossed his now freed mind.

"_**So this is where the journey of Artorias ends. Lord Gwyn, forgive me for my failure all those years ago…"**_

Ichigo continued the attack for several more seconds. When he finally stopped he found himself sweating and panting heavily. Barely able to stay on his feet he was relieved when the knight did not come out of the explosion.

"This may be the first time…I managed to beat an…opponent with that attack…without them coming back for more," he said between breaths.

Suddenly the bleak and desolate mindscape began to rumble. Looking around Ichigo saw that the ground around him was falling into a dark abyss below him.

"What the hell?" he yelled as the ground beneath his feet cracked and fell apart. As he finally fell screaming into the darkness he could have sworn he saw a figure in silver armor looking down at him as he did so.

"**Well done Ichigo Kurosaki. Well done indeed."**

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Ichigo groggily opened his eyes as he returned to the real world. Blinking in confusion he looked around and saw that he somehow he was lying on the floor of the shop. Grabbing his head he attempted to get up only for a spike of pain to radiate from the small of his back, the exact place that hit the mountain when he fought that knight.

_"Don't tell me that really happened."_

"What the hell just happened?" he asked.

When the dwarf saw he was conscious he and several other customers reached down and helped Ichigo to his feet. It took a little effort but they managed to get him up, only for him to stumble and use a table as a support.

"I haven't the foggiest idea what just happened to you. One moment you were touching the armor and the next you were thrown clear across my shop onto the floor covered in bruises. When I ran to help you the armor disappeared in a burst of ashes and then reappeared on you."

"What are you talking about?" Ichigo asked incredulously. When the dwarf rolled his eyes and pointed at him, Ichigo looked at his body with widened eyes. It appears that after beating the knight in that place the armor was transferred to him. The strange thing was that the armor seemed to be a perfect fit for his body, as if it was designed specifically for him.

"This is strange," he admitted.

"You're telling me," the dwarf agreed, "I'm just happy I don't have to sweep up your ashes off the floor of my shop."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," Ichigo said dryly as he reached over for Zangetsu, who had somehow gotten embedded in the floor near the display. When he grabbed his zanpakuto and went to put it on his back as usual something interesting happened.

"Look out!" the dwarf warned.

It was too late for Ichigo to do anything when the greatsword on the display exploded into a shower of ashes that swirled in the air before shooting straight at Ichigo. Managing to get Zangetsu into a block faster than he had ever done before, he attempted to block the supposed attack only for the ashes to disappear into his zanpakuto.

Once all the ashes vanished Ichigo hastily tried to contact his zanpakuto spirit and mentally sighed in relief when he was able to sense everything was all right. Unable to find anything different about Zangetsu at the moment he turned around to the dwarf and stuck his zanpakuto into the ground.

"I can't sense anything off about my sword for now so-"

The dwarf was in a state of panic, "Damn kid get your sword out of my floor before it burns down my entire store!"

Ichigo looked at Zangetsu and found that while it wasn't hot to the touch or glowing the area around where his place was stabbed into the floor was crackling with ash slowly floating up into the air. He grabbed the hilt and gave an experimental touch with his newly armored finger and found that the sharp end of his zanpakuto was not even hot.

_"What the hell is going on here? Could this be a new ability from beating that knight? At least Zangetsu doesn't burn me when I hold it."_

Hoping that nothing else would go wrong Ichigo turned to the dwarf, who was attempted to smother the remaining flames with the bottom of his shoe, and said, "How much you want for the armor?"

"How much," the dwarf mocked as he finally put out the flames, "Forget the armor, you're going to pay for the damage to my shop!"

Ichigo sighed. Apparently everyone had their own priorities.

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**Yes I know the armor I chose for Ichigo is not from the Warcraft Universe (for those of you who don't know what I am using for his armor look up Black Knight Armor Dark Souls on google). I spent a while trying to find the perfect armor model for him and none of the tier sets from Warcraft fit for him. I even tried looking at the Death Knight sets even though they don't join the Alliance/Horde until Wrath of the Lich King (which starts several months later in this story.)**


	18. Chapter 18: Neliel II

**I do not own the characters, ideas, and/or places from either Bleach or World of Warcraft and their respective universes. Tite Kubo and Blizzard® own them respectively. Any original characters in the story belong to me. Any comparisons to other fan fiction or series characters are entirely coincidental and not intentional.**

Hello - Normal Speech

_Hello_ – Normal Thought

**Hello** – Spells Cast/ Demons / Titans/ Inner Hollow/ Dragons / Arrancar Released Form

_**Hello**_ – Thoughts of Demons / Titans/ Inner Hollow/ Dragons / Arrancar Released Form

**I love reviews. To see that someone took the time to log in (or not) and criticize my work is fantastic. I don't care if the review is positive or negative as long as they give good reasons for their response I'm happy. I have gotten reviews that pointed out plot holes, questions I didn't answer, or simply things that I forgot.**

**AUTHOR NOTE #1: **I may make a chapter containing all of my Original Characters in order to give more history about them. Do note, if I do that, that it would always be a work in progress. I will not give information about them that I have not already written in my story.

**Reviews**

**1.** **Drake G. Reaper:** Awesome story so far. What I also like is how you equally tell the story of what's happening in Azeroth as well as that of Ichigo and his team. Next chapter is Neliel which I'm really looking forward to what would be interesting I to see Nel not only save the Scarlet crusade from there suicidal quest but also lead them to something better unlikely but possible. Now I've been wondering with Rukia being with the Vrykul do you intend to have them aid Rukia achieve Bankai?

Thank you for the review but I will not reveal anything I do with Rukia until I actually write it. I want it to be a surprise.

**2. MadCapThrothren: **Great chapter, love you story. Good choice on the armor for Ichigo, it fits him really well. What are your plans for armor for all the other characters for bleach? I know Chad has the onslaught armor, which is perfect by the way. But what about everyone else?

When I started this rewrite several months ago I had most of the armors already planned out. Chad was always going to get the warrior tier set, Ichigo would get something dark and evil looking (which is why I chose the Dark Souls armor), Tatsuki would have a Valkyrie-like armor. I will not reveal what Rukia, Renji, Uryu, or Neliel get but you will be surprised.

**3. ****Alliance Empire: **That armor is kinda... Dark and evil. But who am I to judge. I just hope you can take my advice on making Ichigo into a Worgen and if not, maybe next time.

Dark and evil are not the same as actually being evil but I appreciate the review. As for your worgen idea...it is still MUCH to early in the story to introduce the worgen. They are still trapped behind the Gilneas Wall during the Burning Crusade time period.

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**I worked overtime to get this chapter out. It was difficult to write out some of it but I managed to pull through and get it out in a quality I am proud of. I hope everyone likes the armor choice I picked for Neliel. Read and Review if you can!  
**

**Secret of the Dragonflights Arc**

**Chapter 18: Neliel Teaches and a New Adversary Appears**

Neliel peered through the smoke from her cero and cursed when she saw that Deathwhisper had fled. She was not foolish enough to believe that her cero had managed to kill the lich. While she was fairly certain that the attack had greatly injured the undead creature, just before she fired it she felt something similar to a garganta open up behind Deathwhisper.

When she aimed and fired the cero Neliel knew that the lich might dodge the cero. It was to be expected that a being such as that would have many avenues of escape. She accounted for this possibility by aiming the cero downwards slightly so that it would detonate several feet behind Deathwhisper. The resulting impact had enough heat and force to vaporize both the forest and undead within a hundred feet of it.

She looked around the newly scorched clearing for anything that could give her a sense of direction. After a few seconds she recognized the mountain range she saw while heading up the road with Brigitte earlier. Breaking into a light sprint, she made her way north while noting that there were very few signs of the undead apart from several destroyed meat wagons and dead corpses lining the forest floor.

"_It is quite odd that I haven't encountered any further undead. I would have thought that they were unable to comprehend rational thought. Could it be that Deathwhisper is able to mentally control them and when she fled they fled as well?"_

Travelling through the rotten and infected woods she eventually made her way to just outside of Thalassian Pass only to receive an arrow to the heart.

With disinterest she looked down at the arrow stuck in her arrancar outfit. Grabbing it she pulled it out along with a small piece of her shirt exposing unblemished skin, courtesy of her hierro. It may have been weakened somewhat since her arrival on Azeroth but it was still strong enough to stop arrows. Picking her head up and looking around for the shooter she quickly shot her hand up and plucked a second arrow meant for her forehead from the air.

She examined the arrow briefly before crushing it with ease. Looking up, something in the distance caught her eye. Squinting to get a better look she realized that there were a few dozen people facing her and by their rapid moments they seem to be hostile. Closing her eyes and sighing, she leaned her head to the side and avoided a third arrow while a fourth arrow ricocheted harmlessly off her stomach. While the arrows could do no damage to her, every time they hit her they tore off a little more of her outfit. At this rate she'd be fighting naked within an hour. In both frustration and to protect her modesty she focused on the people in the distance and disappeared in a burst of sonido.

A second later she reappeared in the back of the blood elf camp accompanied by a low buzz. Her eyes narrowed in annoyance before she saw Abbendis standing a little way off staring at the spot she just moved from. Raising a hand, she waved and shouted, "There you are Brigitte. I thought I lost you back there!"

Abbendis turned in surprise, "Neliel? How did you get here?"

"Is that anyway to treat an acquaintance? What was the deal with shooting arrows at me? It was-"

Elyrion moved with impressive speeds and yanked Abbendis away from Neliel. When he pulled her behind several paladins he turned and jabbed him hand towards Neliel, "Eliminate her!"

Neliel was about to ask why they were trying to kill her when several of the paladins ran forward and sliced their hands through the air while shouting, **"Exorcism!"**

"What?" she muttered as she lit up with a holy white light.

The holy spells impacted against her hierro concurrently. The reaction was as if an unstoppable force met an immovable object. The spell had originally been designed by paladins to affect only undead and demons by attacking their unique mana signature and causing the creature to tear itself apart from the inside out. Neliel was an arrancar that, while similar enough to undead and demons that the spells affected her, was sufficiently different that a unique reaction occurred. The holy energy tried to pierce her skin but her hierro acted as an insulator and prevented that from happening. The mana, with nowhere to go but recognizing that Neliel was something like a demon, built up on her skin before it reached a critical density and detonated in a burst of white light.

All this took place within a couple of milliseconds. The resulting explosion blew everyone within ten feet onto the ground. Elyrion raised an armored arm in front of his eyes as the exorcisms connected. He was utterly mystified by what just happened. In his decades of using exorcism he had never seen that severe of a reaction. The only time an exorcism detonates in a mana explosion instead of disintegrating the target is when it hits some type of barrier or shield. A single exorcism is usually enough to destroy any undead or demonic barrier but for all seven of the spells to explode indicated that Neliel had one of the most powerful barriers he had ever seen.

Katryn walked cautiously towards Neliel, her staff raised in defense and several spells resting on the tip of her tongue. "Is she dead?" she asked Elyrion.

Elyrion narrowed his eyes and readied his weapon, "With what I felt that was nowhere near enough to take care of her. That would just make her another monster."

He was ready for Neliel to come out and attack him. What he was not prepared for was Abbendis grabbing his shoulder and twisting his body around. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"What I'm doing?" he parroted in indignation, "I'm trying to kill a powerful demon before she kills everyone in her path!"

"She's not a demon!" Abbendis shouted back and pointed at the smoking crater, "That was my partner!"

"You were working with a demon?" Katryn asked.

"She wasn't a demon!" Abbendis protested, _"Probably."_

"I would be appreciative if you didn't use the past tense when talking about me Brigitte."

Neliel walked out of the smoke a little worse for wear. Despite exploding right on her skin the exorcism spells did little more than give her a few small burns along her arms. While she may have survived almost fully intact her clothes were another story. The explosion had burned off her entire right sleeve along with most of her left one, allowing the world to see her pale flesh. There were also several large patches missing from her outfit, destroyed when the exorcisms exploded right over them.

"That was completely uncalled for. Attacking someone who had no intention of fighting you is rather dishonorable," she scolded while brushing some dirt off what remained of her arrancar uniform.

The reaction from the blood elves to her nonchalant comment was one of two things. Some of them decided to flee in fear at the obviously powerful demon walking towards them while others stood their ground and drew their various weapons.

As she walked ever closer Katryn held her staff out and commanded her fellow mages, "Do not let her talk another step! Burn her to a crisp!"

Neliel watched with mild interest as several large fireballs shot from the blood elf mages towards her. Without even tensing she danced around the spells, her feet a blur as she effortlessly dodged every fireball. When the barrage stopped she arched an eyebrow when she sensed over three-dozen arrows flying towards her. She pushed backwards off the ground to avoid the arrows but looked around in surprise as a paladin was waiting for her.

"_They planned all this?"_ she thought in awe, _"They planned for their first two attacks to miss so that the third will connect? That blood elf's comment before the fireballs was just a distraction so I wouldn't sense the following attacks. I have never seen teamwork of this level before."_

As Neliel leapt backwards the paladin charged up her bastard sword with holy energy and raised it over her head. When she was within range she swung it down and shouted, **"Crusader Strike!"**

Eyes widening, Neliel quickly raised her right arm just as the bastard sword swung down and blocked it with her forearm. The holy attack struggled against her hierro for a moment before it overcame it. It was not without setbacks as the sword itself shattered from the attack. Neliel took a few steps back and examined her wound when she realized the paladin was disarmed and could no longer do that attack. The crusader strike had managed to tear right through her hierro only after a violent clash and left her with a five inch long thin cut on her arm that was more irritating than painful.

Glancing at the paladin who was shocked that her sword shattered she said, "That was an excellent strategy. You managed to throw me off balance enough to use an ability that was able to harm me. If you had a stronger blade you might have been able to do more damage before your weapon shattered."

She turned away from the paladin towards Abbendis, who was staring in shock at the display she just witnessed, "I hope all of your friends aren't this paranoid Brigitte. I don't think I can deal with being attacked everywhere I go."

Abbendis was broken out of her shock by the comment and said the first thing that was on everyone's mind who just witnessed her, "What the hell was all that?"

"All what?" Neliel asked innocently.

She motioned with her arm, "All that! Why did the exorcisms effect you only to do nothing and how did you manage to block a crusader strike with you bare skin?"

"Ohh," Neliel said in realization, "That's a secret for now. I don't want everyone to know about my abilities. Would you want your enemies to know what you can do and how to potentially stop you from doing it?"

Abbendis tsked, "No, you're right. But I will find out how the hell you did that someday."

"You won't have to if I decide to tell you myself," she said before turning to Elyrion, "I take it you have figured out that I'm not trying to kill you?"

He folded his arms as two paladins raced by him to go assist their companion, "I do apologize for our actions human. Your…ability to teleport without any mana or glyphs threw us off balance."

"It wasn't teleportation," Neliel corrected, "I was just moving really, really fast."

"While I would love to hear the intricacies of supersonic movement on flesh, "Katryn butted it, "I would like to ask you something. Are you the cause of that violet light and explosion earlier?"

"I really don't want to talk about it."

"So you did cause it."

Neliel palmed her face and turned to Brigitte, "Can we just move on?"

She tried to leave but found that Abbendis was also looking at her for an explanation. Swiviling around she saw that apart from a few blood elves with their weapons trained on her everyone was waiting for an answer. A little embarrassed by all the stares she laughed nervously and turned to the side, "Stop staring at me. It was a cero ok?"

"Cero?" Katryn repeated, the word rolling off her tongue, "That doesn't sound like any spell I've ever heard."

"I'm not all that surprised," Neliel explained, "It is a rather dangerous ability and as far as I know its usage is limited to just myself."

"That's highly unlikely, "Katryn argued with a wave of her hand, "Mana is not prejudice against its users. Those with sufficient reserves and deposition can cast from any school."

Neliel gave a disapproving look at a rather large tear on her right sleeve, "That may be true but a cero is quite different from any spell you've ever seen. Try to think of the most destructive event you have ever seen and then imagine that in a controlled beam."

"Perhaps a demonstration is in order?" Elyrion offered. While the question was innocent enough he had ulterior motives. If she was capable of using the spell as she claims then it would be prudent to observe it for any weakness. His glowing green eyes focused on Neliel while his mind tried to cover his fear. He was not afraid of her abilities; he had seen a lot of warriors and paladins that were capable of feats similar to what she just did. No, it was the belief that she was telling the truth. He had tried to siphon some of her mana earlier in order to possibly weaken her. When he did that there was no noticeable drop in her mana levels. It was as if she had so much mana that siphoning some of it off was not even noticeable to her perception.

"_A dozen blood elves could siphon mana from her and she might not even notice the effect,"_ he thought with worry.

"You want to know what a cero is?" Neliel asked, "You can easily visualize it as concentrating…mana…into a spherical shape around a part of your body. It could be your palm, finger, even tongue. Once you have done so you keep adding mana while compressing it more and more. When you have reached the appropriate power level you simply point at your target and let it go." Seeing looks of disbelief she grumbled, "Since you seem to think I'm lying I will demonstrate. A cero is inherently destructive so I will limit it to about a tenth of its maximum. I don't want any of you to die from a simple demonstration after all."

Everyone watched with bated breath as Neliel extended her right index finger in front of her face and closed her eyes in concentration. After a few seconds a small sphere of violet mana appeared hovering an inch or so off the tip of her finger. Opening her eyes and smirking she continued to pour more and more spiritual energy into it. The sphere would pulsate every time she did so, as if it was trying to burst but something was preventing it from doing so.

As the energy continued to condense into the sphere the wind began to pick up around the clearing, forcing everyone to squint to keep dirt out of there eyes.

"_By the Light!"_Abbendis thought in shock and fear, _"Is this her true power? How can anything that Mataus comes up with possibly stop her?"_

Katryn's thoughts were slightly different, _"The amount of mana in her cero is enormous. It is only a tenth of what she claims is the maximum and yet it is enough to sate a hundred blood elves' thirst for mana for a year."_

Oblivious to the thoughts of those around her, Neliel finished charging up her cero and craned her neck around, "This should be enough mana for the demonstration." Raising her finger straight over her head she gave a final warning, "I would recommend that everyone take more than a few steps back. This was never meant simply for a demonstration and so I do not want anyone to get hurt. Even with the majority of its destructive power removed it could still cause severe injury."

As the glow from the cero began to intensify and change the even into shades of violet and black the blood elves retreated in earnest from the area. After glancing around and seeing that everyone was at a safe distance, Neliel looked up and calmly said a single word.

"**Cero."**

Accompanied by a sonic boom as the cero broke through the sound barrier as it raced towards the sky. The pressure backlash from the energy was so great that those still too close to Neliel were thrown off their feet. The cero expanded as it rocketed through the clouds overhead and bathed the surrounding plaguelands in a violet glow. It continued to shoot off from her finger for several more seconds until it flickered out of existence. With a trail of smoke rising from the tip of her finger Neliel dusted her hands together and turned to Abbendis with a bored look.

"That was a cero. Are you satisfied now?"

When she turned around and saw everyone staring at her with their mouth gaping she sighed. It was looking to be a very long night.

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Atop the Scourge ziggurat known as Naxxramas two shadowy figures stood staring at a large orb. At a quick glance it would seem to be made entirely out of glass but whenever someone touched it the surface would ripple like water. Unlike a few minutes ago the orb had shown Neliel and Abbendis interacting with the blood elves and included several interesting segments of Neliel's fight against the mages, rangers and paladins. However the modified Eye of Kilrogg they were using was not able to withstand her cero and had been vaporized.

After staring at the now pure-white orb one of the figures turned and asked,** "What the hell just happened?**

"**Hmm…"** the second voice wondered with a definite feminine tone, **"If I had to make a guess you insufferable dwarf I would say that whatever spell was just used was powerful enough to both destroy the Master's protection on the eye as well as vaporize it completely. Such destruction…"**

"**Keep your mind focused Blaumeux!"** the first figure commanded, **"This is not a time for you to daydream about blood and destruction."**

Blaumeux whined, **"But simply observing is infuriatingly boring Korth'azz. Those inferior living creatures have attacked us less and less lately. I haven't managed to kill or torture anyone in almost a month!"**

"**Enough of yer blasted whining Blaumeux!"** Korth'azz interrupted, **"The Master has commanded us to keep an eye on that woman and that is what we are going to do unless you want to disobey him…"**

Those words managed to force Blaumeux to shut up. She was all for death and destruction but she would never directly question anything her Master did or ordered. It was he who gave her these wonderful powers to use to slaughter all in her path. He turned her from a weak-willed paladin of the Silver Hand to one of the Four Horsemen, the most powerful of his death knights. To question him would be the same as siding with the living against him, preposterous!

Even that threat was only enough to shut her up for about five minutes. **"We are the four horsemen Korth'azz. We have broken the backs of dozens of raids into Naxxramas, killed hundreds of people only to raise them in undeath to serve the Master and have managed to corrupt the Ashbringer itself. Spying should be beneath beings of our caliber," **she eventually argued.

"**Enough sniveling! The Master has spoken and we will follow!"**

"**Alright already you uptight dwarf," **Blaumeux remarked as she turned and began walking away. Korth'azz, appalled at her arrogance, quickly followed after her.

"**Just where the hell do you think yer going?"**

"**Oh, you know. To fix a problem by making a solution."**

"**Stop acting like such a smart arse," **Korth'azz growled.

She stopped walking once they were in sight of the teleporter that led down to the plaguelands. While it took the priests and mages of the Argent Dawn days of preparation to bypass the barriers around Naxxramas and send a few dozen living creatures into the ziggurat she could come and go at her leisure without any difficulty.

"**The Master is intrigued by this woman Korth'azz. While she is obviously no match for him in terms of power she is strong enough to garner his attention. Spying on someone like her will lead us nowhere if you want to find out the full extent of her abilities. When I find her I do hope she manages to stay alive long enough for me to fully introduce myself. She seems like such a **_**worthy**_** opponent unlike anyone in this dump."**

Before he could stop her she stepped forth onto the platform. The teleporter immediately began functioning and she disappeared in a flash of white and blue. Korth'azz grit his teeth and took a step to follow her when he felt something hold him back. Turning around he saw Mograine holding him back while his glowing blue eyes were staring at where Blaumeux was just standing.

Korth'azz growled and twisted his shoulder out of Mograine's grip, **"She is going to ruin everything Mograine. If she goes and confronts that woman she will be destroyed and expose our existence!"**

The former Ashbringer shifted his glare from the former thane to the teleporter, **"That is exactly what the Master intends to happen."**

"**What?"**

"**The Master feels that Blaumeux has become a…liability. Every time the foolish living attempt to invade Naxxramas she plays with her prey instead of killing them. I need not remind you of how many mercenaries and adventurers have managed to flee Naxxramas with valuable information due to her."**

"**But for what reason would the Master allow her to live?"**

"**His reasoning is far above what we can comprehend. While she has always been loyal to him she had inadvertently betrayed us and for that she was given one final task even if she does not realize it."**

Korth'azz's eyes widened in astonishment, **"The Master intends for her to perish?"**

"**Exactly,"** Mograine nodded, **"The Master knew that Blaumeux would not be satisfied with observing this woman and would insist on fighting her. She would then go and confront her, forcing this woman to use her abilities to vanquish Blaumeux. The Master gains valuable information about a potential threat and loses nothing in return."**

As the two horsemen made their way back to the Military Quarter, the various death knights initiates around them saluting and bowing to them as they passed, Mograine continued his explanation, **"The Master has become greatly interested in this woman's powers. While his focus is elsewhere at the moment he feels that she could, in time, become one of his most powerful followers."**

"**Blaumeux's replacement?"** Korth'azz pondered.

"**Probably but I do not presume to know how the Master thinks."**

As Mograine finished Korth'azz was left with his own thoughts. Even if he and Blaumeux never got along she had a taste for violence and destruction that he found to be quite pleasurable. Her ability to sow death on the field of battle has led him to try and improve his abilities time and time again, though he would never admit it to anyone.

"_**Blasted bitch is going to go out in a blaze of glory fighting a worthy adversary. Why does she get all the luck?"**_

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_**...**_

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Neliel took the armor given to her in her hands. After her demonstration the blood elves apologized profusely and offered her a new set of armor to replace her now damaged arrancar uniform. She would have politely refused if she didn't know that it could tear at any moment. She held the surprisingly cloth-like armor and examined it. It consisted of tightly fitting chest and arm armor as well as a dress-like vestment for her legs. While she did not have much of a fashion sense, the overall theme of red, gold, and black did please her.

"It's armor right?" she asked holding up one of the spaulders.

"Yes," Elyrion nodded.

"Like yours?"

"Of course."

"Then why does it feel like cloth?"

He chuckled as she walked inside a tent to change, "I understand where you're coming from. The Judgement Armor, as it has become known as, is quite different from the usual armor you might encounter. Instead of being made out of steel and other metals it is created and weaved from mana-forged runecloth enchanted to be resilient against all the magical schools from fire and frost to the arcane and natural. If you were able to sense it you would realize that the armor is able to draw in ambient mana at a slow pace to replenish your own reserves. But I don't think you need to worry about that."

Several minutes later Neliel walked out of the tent in the Judgement Armor and Elyrion hated to admit that it suited her rather well. She adjusted the tunic, made sure her hair wasn't stuck and turned towards him.

"I'm amazed you had one in my size just lying around."

He coughed and turned away, "It wasn't actually lying around. It belonged to one of my more…endowed paladins that was killed a few days ago."

Neliel was revolted that she was wearing a dead woman's armor but her common sense reminded her that it would be difficult travelling and potentially fighting half-naked.

"I appreciate your honesty but I would prefer to know something like that ahead of time," she said with a glare.

"Wow Neliel, you do the Judgement set nicely."

She turned around and saw that it was Abbendis complementing her while carrying something on her back.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"I hate to admit it but these blood elves aren't half bad. While you were changing Katryn realized that your first cero must have scared off the undead for a while and allowed them time to reinforce their position. As thanks they offered us two temporary hawkstriders to bring us to Silvermoon City."

"Let me help you with that," she offered and helped tie down the supplies.

"So what do you plan on doing now?"

Neliel looked around and saw that Elyrion had followed her.

"It is strange," she began and looked at the ground, "When I first arrived here I had no idea of what to do or where I was going. I was walking both blind and deaf without a purpose. When I met Brigitte and she explained her goal to me I realized that I needed to make my own purpose and not let anyone influence what I do."

"Which is?"

She let out a soft smile and said, "I want to travel this world and see everything with my own eyes as well as protect those unable to defend themselves."

"That is not what expected someone of your ability to want. Whenever I return to the Hall of Blood and overhear the newest blood knight recruits they always give one of three reasons for becoming paladins. They want to gain power, conquer either the Alliance or Horde, or simply to explore and fight. I rarely hear someone say what you just said with sincerity and those that do are quickly ridiculed until they either leave or choose one of the first three reasons."

Neliel folded her arms behind her back and looked towards the darkening horizon, "I am what is known as an arrancar. Arrancars did not have the best…reputation…where I'm from. To be able to help others without the social stigma of suspicion and hatred would be a pleasant change of pace for me."

Elyrion rubbed his chin as he thought about what Neliel just said, "I will admit I don't know what an arrancar is but I can relate to the social stigma you experienced. Blood elves have not had the best reputation the past couple of years and that has impacted and changed decades of previously good relations."

Neliel nodded as she turned to finish adjusting the supplies on her hawkstrider. Before she realized it Elyrion had grabbed her hand and shoved a set of papers into it.

"What is this?"

"These documents will allow you passage through Quel'Thalas. Guards will still check you and you will be looked upon with a suspicious eye by many blood elves but you will not be accosted or arrested. Think of it as a gift from a like-minded individual."

She nodded and put the papers in one of her new armor's pockets, "Thank you."

Abbendis took that moment to ride her hawkstrider besides Neliel, "Let's go Neliel, I want to be in the Ghostlands within an hour. It is getting dark and it is at least twenty miles to Tranquillien. I would prefer to leave before the sun fully sets."

Neliel pushed off her foot and easily mounted her hawkstrider. With surprising ease she took the reins and followed after Abbendis through the destroyed Elf Gate and into the pass.

When they were out of sight Elryion began to turn around only to be hit on the head by Katryn's staff.

"What the fuck was that for?" he shouted as he rubbed his sore head.

"You're too trusting. You potentially let a demon and her thrall into our heartlands without so much as a second glance."

He was still rubbing his head when he answered, "You saw her power as clearly as I did. Even if she was a demon there was nothing any of us could have done to stop her."

She was about to argue when an unsettling aura of undeath and malice enveloped the camp. The feeling was so intense that the colors around them bled from brown and red to black and white. Several of the more inexperienced blood elves could not take it and fell to the ground unconscious.

"Light the torches men!" Elyrion ordered, "Do not let whatever is coming sneak past us in the dark!"

As the mages used their spells to create extremely bright flames that gave light to the night sky Elryion saw a pale figure sauntering towards the camp in the distance and broke out in a cold sweat. He recognized that revealing armor and blue hood anywhere.

"Is that a death knight?" a ranger asked jumping down from his perch in a tree, "Why would a single death knight approach alone?"

"That's not just any ordinary death knight," a mage answered as he began the preparations for a large-scale barrier spell, "I have heard rumors of four special death knights in Naxxramas that hold power greater than any other death knight.

"Who is it?" the ranger asked.

"It's-"

"Lady Blaumeux," Elyrion finished with a cold clip in his voice, "Be on your guards men. She may look beautiful but beneath that lies a soul that has torn apart more men than you can imagine. Katryn I need you to take two men of your choice and retreat to Silvermoon."

"What! Why?"

He turned and whispered to her, "I don't think this is going to end well for any of us. My men are not equipped or trained to fight one of the four horsemen. I need you to warn Lady Liadron, Lor'themar, Rommath, anyone in charge that the Scourge are going on the offensive."

"But-"

"Go!"

She wanted to argue further but simply nodded and took off. When he saw she was leaving he turned and climbed over the makeshift barricade towards Blaumeux. The death knight and paladin approached each other before stopping about thirty feet apart.

"To what do I owe the…_pleasure_ of this visit Blaumeux?" he asked with visible malice.

"**Oh…it's you Elyrion. I could have sworn after I tore your brother in half last year you would have become a drunken slob. To see you still a paladin and even stronger than your brother speaks highly of your skills. If I had known the effect murdering a family member would have done to you I would not have stopped at your brother. I would have hunted down your parents and sister as well in order to make you an actual challenge."**

Throughout her speech Elyrion found himself falling into a rage. It was only the thought that fighting her in anger would definitely lead to his death that stopped him from charging her. "It's funny you mention my brother. A priestess that managed to flee mentioned that he was about to kill you when Mograine saved you. She said that you were bawling for your unlife as my brother stalked towards you."

Blaumeux tsked and waved her hand dismissively, **"Details paladin. The fact that I remain on the mortal plane and your brother doesn't is all that matters. For you to-"**

"Why are you here?" he interrupted.

"**So rude,"** she scolded, **"But I do suppose you should have the pleasure of knowing my purpose before dying. I am looking for someone. About…this high, wears all white, and has long green hair. Have you seen someone like that?"**

"I don't know. It seems familiar but I don't know anyone wearing all white."

"**Lying will get you nowhere. I could just as easily pluck the knowledge from your head as easily as plucking a grape off a vine."**

He raised his greatsword threateningly towards her. "Then I guess that is what you need to do but I will not make it easy for you!" he shouted as twin yellow wings erupted from the back of his armor. Racing towards her with his sword imbued with holy energy he cursed her with every fiber of his being, "I'm am going to do what my brother was about to! I am going to finish you off and send your black soul into the nether!"

As he flew towards her with his sword trailing a stream of holy energy, Blaumeux drew her runeblade out of nowhere and parried the attack. She was so sure that she would be able to easily stop it that she was unable to respond what his attack pushed her back with enough force that she tumbled on the ground. Quickly righting herself she growled as the unholy aura around her intensified to the point where the ground around her feet began to rot and decay.

"**I see that you have managed to surpass your brother in both skill and power but you forget one thing elf. It took dozens of people at his skill level to weaken me. I can sense only two or three among your men and women that have his skill level beside you. I am going to enjoy tearing your confidence down little by little until there is nothing left but a scared child!"**

Elyrion screamed in rage and charged her again but this time he did not do so alone. His ability to fight her on a somewhat even footing as well as his speech roused his men to the point that they overcame their fear of Blaumeux. Dozens of arrows, fireballs, ice bolts, arcs of lightning and various other attacks flew by him towards the horseman, who seemed to be on the defensive. Jumping into the air and charging his blade with just enough holy power that it would not shatter he struck down just as she swung her runeblade upwards. Their attacks collided in a burst of white light that blinded everyone around them…

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**AUTHOR'S NOTE**

**So I finally was able to reveal what Neliel's new armor is. It is the Paladin Tier 2 Judgement Armor Set. I always liked the armor and felt that while she may be an arrancar her disposition and reluctance to fighting made paladin armor perfect for her. I was also able to introduce one of my first major antagonists into the story. Sure Chad and Renji know about Hastar but he has not yet done anything to them personally. Lady Blaumeux has made it her goal to track down Neliel and Abbendis and fight them to the death. Only I know what happens next but I promise you it will not be just another one of the follow results: defeated and goes out in a stupid blaze of glory or face-heel turn. I have something rather special planned out.**

**So please review this chapter**

_**Bahamut_Reishiki**_


	19. Chapter 19: Tatsuki II

**I do not own the characters, ideas, and/or places from either Bleach or World of Warcraft and their respective universes. Tite Kubo and Blizzard® own them respectively. Any original characters in the story belong to me. Any comparisons to other fan fiction or series characters are entirely coincidental and not intentional.**

Hello - Normal Speech

_Hello_ – Normal Thought

**Hello** – Spells Cast/ Demons / Titans/ Inner Hollow/ Dragons / Arrancar Released Form

_**Hello**_ – Thoughts of Demons / Titans/ Inner Hollow/ Dragons / Arrancar Released Form

**I love reviews. To see that someone took the time to log in (or not) and criticize my work is fantastic. I don't care if the review is positive or negative as long as they give good reasons for their response I'm happy. I have gotten reviews that pointed out plot holes, questions I didn't answer, or simply things that I forgot.**

**AUTHOR NOTE #1: **I may make a chapter containing all of my Original Characters in order to give more history about them. Do note, if I do that, that it would always be a work in progress. I will not give information about them that I have not already written in my story.

**Reviews**

**1. Ultima-Owner: **Blaumeux has death coming on swift hooves

Well now I wouldn't say that. If I just killed her off after introducing her to the story then the plot would be really boring.

**2. Transcendent Being Fan: **Holy! This chapter was excellent, and the plot advances a lot more! I thank you very much for making an demonstration of Neliel Cero, you rock man!

Thanks! I had hoped for Neliel's story to advance a little further by this point but I also needed to flesh out her character so she doesn't seem so two-dimensional. The answer I chose is fairly obvious.

**Here is Chapter 19 of Bleached Into Azeroth. I spent a lot of time rewriting Tatsuki's battle with Kalithresh to the point where I had multiple versions of how the fight actually went down. Well anyway, enjoy this next chapter and don't forget to review it after you finish reading it.**

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**Secret of the Dragonflights Arc**

**Chapter 19: The Midnight Battle Concludes...Tatsuki's Gamble!  
**

A fireball shot out and a naga fell to the deck with its head burned off.

Silana panted as she caught her breath and looked around. She would never have thought that the neutral Horde races on the ship would willingly fight alongside the Alliance. Earlier in the evening they were at each other's throats but now they were working together as if they were old friends.

"Give 'em hell!" a tauren yelled as he shoulder charged a particularly large naga before grabbing it in a bodylock. The dwarf alongside him took this opportunity to climb up onto the tauren's shoulder, aim his rifle at the naga's surprised face, and fired through its forehead.

The dwarf spit on the new corpse, "That'll teach these snakes to mess with a dwarf."

"Ahem."

"Oh right…that'll teach these snakes to mess with a dwarf and a really angry tauren. That better?"

"Yes."

Shaking her head to clear her mind she felt a little dizzy as the effects of mana exhaustion started to set in. Mages like her were not meant for protracted battles and this one has lasted for at least ten minutes. Without any potions she would drop unconscious from lack of mana soon. Her addled mind was still sharp enough to hear a noise approaching from the left side of the ship. Slamming her staff into the deck she shouted, **"Arcane Explosion!"**

The group of naga attempting to come over the side of the ship had but a moment to comprehend what was happening before the spell detonated right in front of their faces. The quickly expanding shell of arcane magic blasted them back into the sea either unconscious or dead. Silana allowed a small smirk to grace her face before her customary scowl reappeared as she felt the familiar feeling of a spell being cast. Spinning around she held out her staff and propped it up with her left forearm. The arcane missilesshot by the naga siren impacted against her barrier and started to drive her back as her feet were unable to find purchase on the wooden deck.

Gritting her teeth she let loose a roar that dispelled both her barrier and the barrage of missiles. Raising her hand to the siren she clenched her fist and the naga was immediately frozen solid in a block of magical ice. She sauntered up to the siren and swung her staff into the ice, shattering both it and the naga inside it.

"You were good…just not good enough to go toe to toe with someone like me," she said between pants.

"_I don't know how much more of this I can do," _she thought while looking around, _"Everyone is slowly being pushed back by the overwhelming amount of naga."_

She prepared herself to get back into the fight when a large boom echoed throughout the area.

"What was that?"

Before she could think of an answer to her own question a silver blur shot through the air from the captain's nest onto the nearby deck, rocking the ship with the impact.

"Tatsuki!" she shouted as she ran towards her.

"Damn," Tatsuki growled as she pulled herself out of the crater, "that son of a bitch is tougher than he looks. Hits harder too. I think I broke a couple of ribs from that last punch."

"Stay down Tatsuki. I'm sure I can find a priest or paladin nearby to heal your wounds."

"That won't be necessary," Tatsuki ordered as she stood up with a slight wince while holding the right side of her chest.

"It is not out of concern for you," Silana explained, "Naga warlords are notorious for cheating. If you do not get healed he will capitalize on it and press the advantage."

Tatsuki shrugged off the blood elf's hand from her shoulder and she pushed through the pain, "No time."

"**I would listen to the elf."**

The two woman turned as Kalithresh's body slammed down onto the deck crushing another naga's body beneath him. Uncoiling his body to his full height of ten feet he grabbed his trident and rested it on his shoulder.

"How did he do that?" Tatsuki whispered to Silana.

"Do what?"

"Jump down," she answered with an exaggerated motion of her hands, "He has no legs or feet and yet he somehow jumped up into the air before slamming back down."

"Is that really important?" the mage asked incredulously.

"No," Tatsuki deadpanned, "But it's bugging the hell out of me."

"**Are you two women finished talking?"**

Tatsuki scowled before letting out a mirthful laugh, "Were you waiting for me? I thought you were too scared to attack me head on."

Kalithresh hissed and jabbed his trident towards Tatsuki, **"Your mouth may be quick but you are not. It will be a pleasure to cut you down to size human. Your kind is no match for me or my brethren."**

"Is that so?"

Her question was answered when his trident came flying towards them. She dodged out of the way and slid behind a knocked over crate. Wincing as her ribs acted up she peeked around her cover and saw Kalithresh pull on a chain and reel in his trident.

"**Your bravado is amusing human but your actions speak louder," **the warlord said as his reptilian eyes looked around the shadowy deck for Tatsuki, **"All I see is a cowardly female that runs at the first sign of danger. What is a little blood or a lost arm if you are going to die anyway?"**

"I kind of like my limbs attached right where they are!" she yelled back while diving out of her cover just as the trident came crashing through. Rolling and getting to her feet she sprinted towards Kalithresh. The naga had already anticipated this and managed to retract his weapon and shot it forward once again at her.

She cursed and raised her arm to defend herself from the attack. The spiritual armor on her arm fought against the dark magic in the weapon, which resulted in a shower of mana sparks. Quicker than most eyes could comprehend Tatsuki snaked her left arm around the trident and gripped it tightly before pulling. Kalithresh was not expecting this show of strength and was pulled bodily towards Tatsuki. With years of training she managed to get the naga warlord into a chokehold that even he was having difficulty escaping from.

"What are you waiting for Silana?" Tatsuki shouted, "Hit this bastard with some of your magic!"

The blood elf mage turned away from her battle and noticed that Tatsuki had the leader pinned down. Dropping her staff on the ground she clapped her hands together and took in a deep breath, "Move Tatsuki!"

Even with Kalithresh struggling to escape her hold Tatsuki managed to twist him around so his face would be the first thing to get hit by Silana's spell. When she saw the blood elf's cheeks puffing outward she gasped, "What the hell? There's no way you can do what you're about to do!"

"**Dragon's Breath!"**

When the dragon-shaped flame shot straight out of Silana's mouth Tatsuki let go of Kalithresh and kicked him forward towards the spell while dodging to the side at the same time.

"**Noooo!"** the naga hissed as his body made contact with the intense flames and began to burn.

Tatsuki didn't take her eyes off the flames as she circled around to Silana, "That was awesome."

"Thanks," Silana replied with wisps of smokes streaming out her mouth, "It's a difficult spell to utilize. It takes forever to charge up and it always leaves my mouth tasting like soot."

"I can see that," Tatsuki said while looking around the deck. With their leader incapacitated the naga were starting to slowly retreat over the sides of the ship as the adventurers pushed the advantage.

She clapped her hands together before wincing in pain, "With that done I could really use that healing you mentioned. My ribs are killing me."

"Of course. Let me just find-"

Silana was interrupted when a trident shot out of the flames and pierced through her left shoulder and pinned her to the wall.

"Damn it!" she growled in pain as she attempted to pull out the trident with her other hand only to scream in pain.

"Silana!" Tatsuki shouted.

Silana pointed with a shaking finger, "Behind you."

Tatsuki barely began to turn around when a large fist collided with her body and threw her through the air towards the side of the ship. Coughing in pain, she spit up some blood and looked at Kalithresh, who had seen better days. The naga warlord body was covered in third degree burns and had columns of smoke wafting off his body.

With deliberate slowness he removed his trident from Silana who slid to the ground unconscious, **"You think that simply burning my flesh would stop me. I will gut you and hang your head like a trophy after I finish torturing you and your friend here for what you have done to me!"**

"Where do you get off doing these kinds of things to people?"

The naga seemed to have lost his mind or he simply did not hear her question, **"Where is the second Amulet of R'lyeh?"**

"Amulet of what-now?"

"**You liar! You know exactly what I'm talking about! I will tear the answers out of your skull!"**

For all his bravado Kalithresh did not charge her or attempt to throw his trident again and Tatsuki understood why. Both of them had been fairly injured during their fight. She had several broken ribs and probably a concussion from that last attack and he was in severe pain from the burns all over his body. They each knew the first to attack would easily be open to a counterattack from the other.

Tatsuki was trying to think of a solution when she felt something familiar in her mind give way. She looked down at the glowing golden runes on her left arm before changing her focus to Kalithresh, who was confused by what was going on.

"**Interesting. You seem to be able to do more than throw punches."**

"You have no idea."

"_I just hope I still know how to do this."_

As she began to glow with a slight golden aura, Tatsuki held her left hand over her body and spoke a single word:

"**Gungnir."**

At some unseen signal the golden aura around her body expanded outwards before streaking upwards to her open left palm. In a shower of sparks and mana Tatsuki was holding a lance firmly in her hand. The lance itself looked quite unremarkable. Its shaft was composed of alternating bands of silver and crystal-clear metal adorned with runes that glowed with the same golden light as Tatsuki's armor. Near the front stood two rows of prongs that extended outwards parallel to each other, giving the lance the appearance of having five sharp points. What made it interesting was the golden spiritual energy wafting off the end of it like smoke.

Tatsuki dared to take her eyes off Kalithresh to look up at her lance and let out a breath. When she first awakened her spiritual abilities back in Karakura Town, Ichigo brought her to Urahara who took it upon himself to help her learn the basics of her techniques. This particular one was quite tricky and was prone to not working when she needed it to. By using Gungnir she was almost guaranteed to hit the target as long as she threw it towards them but the power wavered tremendously. It could one time fail to injure a basic hollow but the next time pierce completely threw an arrancar's hierro like it was paper.

Kalithresh slithered away from Tatsuki when she brought out Gungnir. He had no idea how she managed to conjure a weapon out of thin air like that without a mage portal but he could feel the power emanating off it and it bothered him. The fact that she had such a powerful weapon at her disposal and did not use it earlier in their battle enraged him,** "What is that weapon? Where did you get it?"**

She motioned to the lance in her hand with a nod of her head, "You talking about this thing? It's called Gungnir and it's very fickle but there is one thing that I can tell you and that is as long as I have a target in mind it will never miss."

Hefting the lance back over her head with slightly more effort than usual she leaned back and prepared to throw it. As she did so the vapor trails of golden spiritual energy rising from the lance increased to the point where it looked like the lance was enveloped in golden flames. "Do not move," she ordered, "I would like to end this as quickly as possible."

With a battle cry she threw the lance at Kalithresh. From many years of fighting the naga warlord predicted where the lance would hit him and moved out of the way accordingly. He hissed in pain from his burns but was smug when the lance missed him entirely.

"**Perfect aim you said?" **he gloated as he prepared to take his revenge, **"I seem to recall you saying something like that but a moment ago."**

Tatsuki didn't seem upset and simply crossed her arms in front of her chest, "Wait for it…"

A whirring sound caught Kalithresh's attention but it was too late for him to do anything as the lance hit him in his left shoulder. It flew through his shoulder as if it wasn't even there and left a large bleed gash that left his arm barely connected to his body before being caught by Tatsuki. Resting the lance on her shoulder she grinned and said, "See? What did I tell you?"

Kalithresh didn't pay attention to Tatsuki's gloating at he attempted to stop the flow of blood from his useless arm. As long as they live a naga's scales become increasingly denser and harder as they age. His had the hardness of steel but her weapon sliced clean through it like he was a newborn, **"How…how did you do that?" **he asked between gasps of pain.

"I told you," she sighed with annoyance, "As long as I have the intent to do harm to my opponent Gungnir will not miss. When you dodged the original throw the lance teleported around and came back at you. Making it do that does take away a lot of the power but it was still enough to injure you."

The warlord narrowed his eyes and reviewed his options. This battle was not going the way he imagined it would go. In fact, nothing this night was going right. The artifact he was supposed to find was missing and now this human, female at that, had managed to greatly wound him in a battle of strength. It was inconceivable that he would lose to an insect like this!

"**It appears I underestimated your prowess in combat female. Next time we meet I shall fight you as my equal until I hold your severed head in my hands!"**

Tatsuki's eyes widened when she realized what the naga was about to do, "Damn it! I won't let you escape!"

Her threat was too late as Kalithresh used his one good arm to throw himself over the railing of the ship into the dark water below just as Gungnir pierced through the spot where he was just standing. Running to the side as the lance reappeared in her hand, Tatsuki looked into the murky water and saw no sign of her opponent. Banging her fist on the railing in anger she was not surprised when the lance disintegrated into golden wisps of spiritual energy.

"_And there's the time limit,"_she thought with an angry sigh, _"I have to be more careful next time. I don't want it to vanish in the middle of a fight."_

Still pent up with anger she turned to the naga who still remained on the ship after the defeat of their leader and yelled, "Any of you bastards want a piece of me?"

The naga seemed to get the message and quickly slithered to and over the sides into the water below. As she panted in exhaustion she remembered that Silana had been badly injured in the battle. Running to where she last saw the blood elf unconscious Tatsuki was surprised to see a night elf priest hovering over her, his face deep in concentration and hands glowing green as he healed the damage to her body.

Being new to the world of Azeroth Tatsuki was confused as to what he was doing. Grabbing his arm she attempted to pull him away, "What the hell are you doing to her?"

"Calm down human. I am simply healing the damage done to her by the naga's attack. If you do not allow me to finish the damage will soon be too severe to repair properly and she may die."

Tatsuki quickly let go of the priest's shoulder and he immediately went back to healing Silana. Looking around, the signs of the battle that had just ended were apparent. Bodies of both naga and adventurers littered the deck with the dead naga outnumbering all other bodies by at least three to one. The adventurers who had not been seriously injured during the fighting had begun to pick up the dead naga and throw their bodies into the ocean.

A quick grunt brought Tatsuki's attention to the night elf. Standing and audibly stretching he looked at her, "your friend should be fine. I managed to heal the damage done. Luckily for her the naga managed to miss all the vital organs and just barely missed an artery."

"So she'll be fine?"

He nodded, "More or less. I can heal wounds but I can't stop the pain. I can't help but find myself curious about you though."

"What do you mean?"

"Your armor, for instance. It is of a make I have never seen before and it is so laden with mana that I would have thought it was composed of it to begin with, which is impossible."

Tatsuki actually looked embarrassed at that comment, "My armor's fine. There's nothing wrong with it!"

"Another thing is that weapon you used. I believe I heard you call it Gungnir or something. I have lived for over two hundred years and I've never seen a spell able to conjure an actual weapon."

"I'm just that special."

"I can understand if you don't want to talk about your abilities but I would be careful where I use them in the future. You won't always be on a ship in the middle of the ocean when you go to battle."

"Yeah, yeah," Tatsuki mumbled. Feeling the ship tilt slightly, she saw that they were turning around and heading back to Teldrassil, "Why are we turning around?"

The priest seemed amused by her question, "There are dozens of people killed, including the captain, as well as structural damage to the hull of the ship. Did you actually think we would continue sailing for another week?"

Tatsuki ignored him and stared up at the imposing world tree.

"_That night elf has a point but does he have to be such a sarcastic asshole?"_

* * *

_..._

* * *

_**Temple of the Moon, Darnassus**_

Tyrande Whisperwind looked at the sealed letter in front of her with annoyance. She knew immediately after one of her sentinels handed it to her who it was from, the eloquent script on it was too ordered, too…high class to be anyone but Bylena Moonstrike. As she hesitantly picked it up her mind tried to picture what the sentinel captain would ask permission for this time. Would she ask to infiltrate the Barrens after a particularly ruthless criminal or for permission to execute someone who broke their laws and customs one too many times?

"_It's not like she actually listens to my decisions,"_ Tyrande sighed, _"That type of disobedience is usually not tolerated but her track record gives her some leeway. I might as well see what she wants this time and once again attempt to persuade her against it."_

"It's a beautiful night isn't it Lady Tyrande?"

Tyrande turned around, the letter still in unopened in her hand. Standing behind her with their hands clasped behind their backs and their heads bowed in respect were two of her most experienced priestesses.

"It is a beautiful night Alathea," she remarked to the priestess that had spoken to her, "In our troubling times peaceful and relaxing nights like this are few and far between."

"Troubling times my lady? Forgive my rudeness but hasn't Outlands become the crux of the war?"

"That it has but there are tremors in the world that indicate something is coming. What it is I do not know but it worries me slightly."

The short conversation over, Tyrande walked past the two priestesses before the fell into step behind her. Making her way around the second floor balcony of the Temple of the Moon, Tyrande drew a finger around the string holding the letter furled up and opened to read it. As her mind processed what was on it, her pace slowed down until she stopped walking.

"Lady Tyrande, is something the matter?

"I am not sure," she said after a brief moment, "but can you go find Dalia Sunblade Amara? I do believe she is patrolling near the Tradesmen's Terrace this time of night. When you find her, tell her to inform Archdruid Staghelm that I require his presence immediately."

The two priestesses exchanged a look of shock at Tyrande's request. It was common knowledge among the night elves that the night priestess and archdruid never saw eye to eye on anything. While she would attempt diplomacy and talking, Fandral Staghelm would push for harsher words and actions against the guilty party. Many diplomatic meetings had turned tense due to this antagonistic relationship. He thought she was too moderate and soft to lead their people while she thought he was overly aggressive and militaristic for a druid.

"Are-are you sure my lady?"

Tyrande, to her credit, did not look angry at the question, "I understand perfectly what you are thinking but for once I am willing to tolerate speaking to Fandral. What I need to speak to him about goes above and beyond all petty acts of childishness. Now go."

Amara gave a short bow before hurrying downstairs and past the statue of Haidene. Tyrande watched as she exited the temple and vanished into the darkness of Darnassus. She turned and saw that Alathea looked as if she was debating whether or not to say something and it showed from her fidgeting motions.

"You have been a priestesses as well as a friend for hundreds of years Alathea. You do not need permission to speak your mind."

Alathea seemed to relax at that reassurance, "Whatever is in that letter must have been terrible for you to be so upset. But is calling for the archdruid a little too much? Surely you can handle whatever is going on by yourself."

"For what is going on Fandral might be the best person to talk to." Tyrande sat down to meditate but before she did so said, "Why don't you go offer A'moora assistance teaching the new priestesses. She seemed to be a little overburdened the last time I saw her and her inexperience might leave her unable to deal with the more rambunctious students. Your presence would help her relax and keep the students in line."

"Of course Lady Tyrande," Alathea bowed and left her side. Alone at last, Tyrande closed her eyes and clasped her hands in front of her chest as she began praying to Elune. The tranquil atmosphere of the temple and the moonlight streaming in through the opening in the roof usually helped to calm her thoughts and clear her mind but recent events have been causing her some difficulties doing so the past few days.

"_This all started when that envoy from the bronze dragonflight let it slip that several things had arrived on Azeroth that they have been unable to track or influence. The Eastern Kingdoms have not been doing any better. Rumors have filtered from Stormwind about a large-scale manhunt for an extremely powerful death knight greater than any seen before. If that wasn't enough Jaina Proudmoore has mentioned feeling the echo from a large burst of mana somewhere in the plaguelands. All these events don't make any sense. What do they mean and how are they all connected with each?"_

Several minutes passed without her mind coming up with an answer to her questions. Giving up and allowing herself to fall deeper into her meditation, her mind was finally starting to clear and become calm when an annoyingly familiar tone echoed from outside the temple entrance.

"What is the meaning of blocking my path? I was summoned out of my chambers in the middle of the night by Tyrande herself and you have the gall to deny me entrance?"

"I highly doubt that the high priestess called for you archdruid," one of the sentinels said, "I will not allow you to sully the temple premises with your slather of our lady."

Fandral Staghelm looked insulted, "Why you-"

"That will be enough from both of you. This is a sacred place."

Fandral shoved past the two sentinels blocking his passage and confronted Tyrande, "Is this some kind of joke Tyrande? One of your sentinels knocked on my chambers in the middle of the night saying you want to speak to me but when I come I am forbidden from entering."

"I did in fact ask for you to come here," she said calmly before shifting her gaze to the sentinels outside, who did their best to not meet her eyes, "Next time the archdruid arrives at the temple please ask me if I summoned him before denying him entrance. It brings shame to us all."

"I see you are not as soft as you appear," Fandral sneered.

Tyrande ignored the insult and beckoned for him to follow her. Once they walked deeper into the temple and out of earshot of any potential eavesdroppers she handed him the letter, "Read this."

He looked down at the letter, "What is this?"

"Just read it already Fandral," she sighed with annoyance.

With a sneer of annoyance he grabbed the letter from her and quickly scanned the contents. As his eyes scrolled down through what was written on it, his face changed from anger to confusion. Once he finished he turned and said, "I take it this exaggerated tale of a mentally unstable sentinel is the reason you dragged me out of bed?"

"Mentally unstable? I though Bylena was one of your favorites?"

"I do find her pleasant company unlike most of your sentinels. While most of them are weak-willed and ill disciplined she puts the safety and security of Darnassus above everything else. She has a ruthlessness that I find admirable but it appears she finally reached the breaking point."

"That is what I thought at first but the events occurring around Azeroth have given me second thoughts."

"Events," Fandral mocked, "You are looking too deep into things as usual Tyrande."

"Perhaps this new piece of information will change your mind. Several hours ago some of our spies in the undead territory reported a battle unlike any they have seen before. Someone or something attacked the Scarlet Monastery and directly assaulted the leadership before fleeing and leaving dozens of bodies in its' wake. It then made its way to the plaguelands and singlehandedly fought and won against almost a dozen of Syvlanas's so-called dark rangers."

The archdruid actually looked intrigued, "That is rather interesting and does warrant further investigation. Someone able to do that should be watched closely but I do not see how this relates to Bylena's report."

"The connection you should be looking for Fandral is not if the events are identical but if there are excessive similarities."

"Similarities you say? Yes, I can see what you mean. Bylena's report said her sentinels met up with a…" Fandral looked back at the letter, "…'a human female in her mid to late teenage years, wearing silver armor with gold etchings that gave off a strong vibe of mana. Has the disposition of an angry orc and strength and agility far beyond what any human is capable of. Found perfectly fine in the middle of a scorched-bare clearing after a large explosion."

"Intriguing isn't it?"

After a short pause Fandral nodded in agreement, "Yes. This…person Bylena described could pose a serious threat to Darnassus and every night elf on Azeroth. I'll give the order to track and either apprehend or kill this woman."

"No you will not."

"What?" Fandral said in astonishment, "I'm putting politics aside for the moment to secure the future of our civilization and you won't let me go after an obvious threat?"

Tyrande shook her head, "Calm down and think Fandral. This woman has the ability to detonate some type of spell to utterly destroy the surrounding areas and escape from heavily armed and trained sentinels. If we go with your plan and she somehow survives she might come after us. What is to stop her from making it into the city and then letting off another one of those devastating attacks?"

Fandral grumbled but did not argue, "Still Tyrande, doing nothing is just as bad. We need to be prepared for any type of assault from this woman or any of the others out there. I will agree to not go out seeking her but you have to allow me control of the sentinels to coordinate the defense of Teldrassil. For all we know she could be on her way here right now."

Tyrande looked conflicted before she waved her hand dismissively, "Fine. I will inform my captains that you have jurisdiction over the defense of Teldrassil and that only. You will not have the authority to send any onto the mainland or give orders to any already there. Is that acceptable?"

"For the safety of our people it better be enough."

"Archdruid Staghelm! Lady Tyrande! Something terrible has happened!"

The two night elf leaders turned to see a sentinel racing down the hallway towards them, "There was a naga attack on a ship leaving Auberdine. A gryphon rider saw the battle as he travelled over from the mainland. He reported that the assault was repelled but the ship suffered major damage and was forced to dock at Rut'theran Village. Should we dispatch aid to the survivors?"

Tyrande stepped forward and put her hand on the sentinel's shoulder, "But of course. The people on that ship have suffered greatly and are in need of our aid. Make sure you offer assistance to any members of the Horde who fought as well. They might not be on our side but they are still living beings."

The sentinel bowed and ran off to relay the order. Fandral sneered at her and said, "Offering aid to the Horde? What are you thinking?"

"Calm down Fandral. We are offering aid because it is the right thing to do. Remember that we are no longer at war with them and so we must act cordially."

"We might not be at war now but one day we will and you will regret going soft on them," he said before he left her alone in the temple.

"_I hope you aren't right Fandral. Malfurion…what would you do?"_

* * *

...

* * *

**_Rut'theran Village, Teldrassil_**

Tatsuki was absolutely bored. Blowing a stray strand of hair out of her eyes she leaned over the railing and looked at the village spreading out in front of her. _The Bravery_ had somehow managed to float all the way back to this place, Rut'theran Village, without capsizing in the process. Sure there were a few moments that she could have sworn she heard something explode below deck but since the ship was still floating it must not have been that bad.

Bristling slightly as someone unintentionally shoved by her, she saw that it was the interim captain giving directly the volunteers from the village. With the original captain dead from the attack and most of the adventurers seriously injured or worse a lot of help was needed to prevent anyone else from dying. That is where the villagers come in. When _The Bravery_ sailed to the dock and the captain informed the still groggy villagers of the naga attack they moved to assist so fast that Tatsuki's head was still spinning.

"_They are a nice sight to watch though,"_ she thought with a sly grin as two night elves leaned over both ends of a stretcher holding a 300-pound tauren and picked it up with ease. His entire upper body as well as his right arm was heavily bandaged with bloodstained gauze but the dwarf walking along side the stretcher seemed to be having a laugh about something.

"For a tauren you have an incredibly low tolerance for pain."

"Shut it."

"You only got stabbed three times. That's not even worth bragging about at the pub."

"If I wasn't in so much pain I would snap your neck."

A groan tore Tatsuki's attention from the scene in front of her. Silana had just regained consciousness and was attempting to get up, "Ugh, what the hell hit me?"

Tatsuki helped her sit up against the mast "Awake I see?

"Yeah," she groaned, "In a lot of pain though."

"The priest said you were healed but couldn't do anything about the pain."

Silana let out a soft chuckle, "Then he's a bad priest."

Tatsuki sighed and looked to the right, "What are you going to do now?

The blood elf attempted to stand up but winced and stopped, "I would like to get off the stupid ship and onto dry land. With all the pain and nausea I feel like I might throw up."

Tatsuki took one step back out of precaution, "Well just don't do anything on me. These boots aren't exactly removable you know."

Grabbing her shoulders, Tatsuki gently helped her to her feet. Once she was standing Silana pushed her away and unsteadily made her way off the ship, "Don't help me. I want to get off on my own."

"Are you sure?"

She nodded, "Yes."

"Fine. Just don't use me as an excuse when you throw up on someone," Tatsuki shrugged in defeat.

Tatsuki watched Silana attempt to disembark only for a night elf to wrap her arm around his neck for assistance. Either he was incredibly dense or just didn't care because even as she was helped off she was trying to force him to let her go.

"Aren't you going to go with your friend?"

Tatsuki rolled her eyes. Of course he would somehow find her out of all the people on the ship, "Nah. I don't think so. I still need to get to Menethil Harbor so I'm going to stay on this hunk of wood until we take off again."

The priest seemed amused and walked past her to the ramp leading to the dock, "I'll see you in two days or so then."

"Two days?"

"Did I forget to mention that part? Apparently the damage to the ship was so bad that it is no longer safe to sail on. Naga attacks are notorious for the collateral damage. A new ship should arrive within the next few days to take us the rest of the way."

"Whatever," Tatsuki grumbled, "But I don't think the naga were just attacking us for no reason."

"What?"

She rubbed the back of her neck, "The naga I was fighting mentioned they were looking for something. I don't remember exactly though."

The night elf narrowed his eyes as he tried to contemplate what it meant, "I do not know what they were looking for but it could not have been good. I'm guessing since they retreated they did not find it?"

"I think so."

"Then all is well and good."

Tatsuki followed the priest down the ramp and off the ship. Looking back, she could see just how bad the damage actually was. The entire side of the ship was full of pockmarks and holes from where the nagas clawed their way to the deck from the sea and there was one large hole where they had attempted to crawl into the ship itself but by the excessive green stain the people inside must not have made it easy for them. Turning around so she doesn't walk into anyone, Tatsuki found Rut'theran Village to be quite charming in its own way. The style of the buildings, the mystic feel in the atmosphere, the interesting people. Everything looked as if they came directly out of a fairy tale.

"_Nah that can't be right. If it was a fairy tale there would be dragons."_

"Attention please. Can I have your attention please?"

Tatsuki turned towards the voice. A rather young-looking night elf was standing on a stack of boxes and was trying to address the crowd of adventurers and passengers, "Due to the situation at hand Darnassus will be opening up the inns free of charge to those of you who were on board the ship. I regret to inform those members not of the Alliance that you will not be allowed into the city. To make up for that you will be given free room and board here in Rut'theran Village for the entire stay. Thank you."

The angry groans were not as prevalent as Tatsuki thought but she still found the speech to be slightly disturbing. They were not going to let in some potentially injured people simply because they were part of whatever this Horde is?

"That's wrong."

"I wouldn't take anything she says too harshly," the priest said to Tatsuki, "Most of the current generation grew up during the three wars and so suspicion and mistrust are all they know. A lot of the older night elves are quite tolerant of the other races and are willing to work with them whenever needed."

"It's still not right," Tatsuki argued and gave a sharp look back towards the speaker, "A lot of the people belonging to this Horde were injured in the battle. They're not going to get proper medical attention out here."

"You are only partially correct. While they are not allowed into Darnassus they will still be given proper care."

"Can't say I agree with you but what can I do?"

"I don't know. What can you do?" he repeated, "It has been said that one of the greatest mistakes a person can make is to do nothing because they might only accomplish a little, but that little accomplishment can easily gain momentum and end up changing the world."

"That was surprising deep coming from you."

"I'm a night elf, I have to be deep and philosophical at least some of the time."

Tatsuki shrugged before stretching and letting out a loud yawn, "Man I'm tired. Fighting in the middle of the night really wears you down."

"Then let us grab your friend and head into Darnassus. I am colleagues with one of the innkeepers and she should be able to get us some clean beds."

Tatsuki nodded and went to go look for Silana. After a few minutes she found the blood elf lying atop a stack of crates with her hands folded over her stomach. As she approached her, Silana sighed and grunted in pain as she stood up and rubbed her sore shoulder.

"I take it you are done talking to your friend?"

She shrugged, "Yeah we're done."

"So while you are in the city I will be waiting out here in this desolate little village amount the other Horde races."

Tatsuki looked embarrassed, "When you put it that way…"

Silana laughed and waved her off, "Don't worry about me Tatsuki, I'll be perfectly fine. I'm more than capable of watching over myself. You go into Darnassus and get some rest. I'll see you tomorrow to figure out what we're going to do next."

Saying goodbye, Tatsuki turned and followed the priest and the other passengers up the ramp towards the red portal near the base of the tree. Two stern-looking night elves in familiar armor stood on either side of the portal watching each and every person passing through for any signs of trouble. For a moment Tatsuki thought they were going to try and stop her but when she wasn't called out she let out a sigh of relief.

"_At least the hard part of this crappy adventure is over. Now I can get some rest and figure out what to do next."_

* * *

...

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**

**So there is the conclusion to Tatsuki's battle as well as her arrival onto Teldrassil and eventually Darnassus. As you have read the leaders of the Night Elves have taken notice to the arrival of Ichigo and his friends but something you may have missed was that the arrival times were not in order. Several examples are: Uryu arrived in Tirisfal Glades several hours after Neliel did, Ichigo arrived second even though he was one of the last to be pulled into the vortex and Tatsuki was one of the (if not the) last to arrive. If it would help clear things up (and people post it in their reviews or PM's) I will create a timeline of the story so everyone can follow who did what at when.  
**

**Read and Review please  
**

**_~Bahamut_Reishiki_  
**


	20. Rukia II

**I do not own the characters, ideas, and/or places from either Bleach or World of Warcraft and their respective universes. Tite Kubo and Blizzard® own them respectively. Any original characters in the story belong to me. Any comparisons to other fan fiction or series characters are entirely coincidental and not intentional.**

Hello - Normal Speech

_Hello_ – Normal Thought

**Hello** – Spells Cast/ Demons / Titans/ Inner Hollow/ Dragons / Arrancar Released Form

_**Hello**_ – Thoughts of Demons / Titans/ Inner Hollow/ Dragons / Arrancar Released Form

**I love reviews. To see that someone took the time to log in (or not) and criticize my work is fantastic. I don't care if the review is positive or negative as long as they give good reasons for their response I'm happy. I have gotten reviews that pointed out plot holes, questions I didn't answer, or simply things that I forgot.**

**AUTHOR NOTE #1: **I may make a chapter containing all of my Original Characters in order to give more history about them. Do note, if I do that, that it would always be a work in progress. I will not give information about them that I have not already written in my story.

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**I have a couple of good crossover ideas for another story:**

**1. Dragon Age x Mass Effect: Unlike other crossovers this has the cast of Mass Effect (the squad members) taking place with the characters born into an expanded Thedas and Ferelden with new characters and interactions. If I do this, I will not start during Dragon Age: Origins.**

**2. Final Fantasy XIII x World of Warcraft: I have had a couple of ideas dealing with Lightning ending up on Azeroth. I would have to think about this but I believe it has some potential.**

**3. Final Fantasy XIII x Dragon Age: What if Lightning crashes into the world of Dragon Age? What could the people think of a woman wielding magical powers left and right, has great strength and stamina, and can summon beings to aid her in battle? I'm sure there isn't a mythical figure like that already…**

**If you like any of these please PM me with your choice. The one that gets the most votes will be the one I decide to work on.**

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* * *

**Secret of the Dragonflights Arc**

**Chapter 20: Fight for the Soul! Rukia's Battle with Death**

The val'kyr flapped her wings as she hovered invisibly several hundred feet above Utgarde Keep. She had been assisting her sisters in the subjugation and conversion of the Drakkari trolls when her master telepathically contacted her. She was initially greatly honored by simply hearing him talk to her personally but became slightly upset when he had ordered her to the Howling Fjords to investigate a human. It was no secret to the val'kyr that someone existed in Northrend capable of destroying them. She had felt it in her corrupted soul when her sister's connection to her master was destroyed in an instant by a power both familiar and alien. While she would follow her master's orders without questioning she was still more than a little nervous about approaching such a being.

She had arrived a little while ago and so far had found nothing to indicate that the small female human below was anything special. On the contrary she looked frail and weak. When the scourge army had begun their assault on the vrykul for betraying the Lich King she had hoped that would be enough incentive for the human to show some of her abilities yet she did not. As the group below began to make their way into the keep she leaned backwards into a freefall that she broke out of just above the entrance to Utgarde Pinnacle, the royal chambers of the keep.

Hovering to slow her descent she landed her ethereal body onto the roof without a sound. Even if she could not be heard she remained invisible to the mortal eye lest one of the shaman below sense her presence. When the human and the vrykul accompanying her entered the keep and slammed the doors shut behind them she decided that a new approach was in order.

Folding her hands in front of her chest in a mock gesture of a prayer she pulled at the unholy and nightmarish power dwelling inside her twisted soul. After a moment she opened her now glowing blue eyes while spreading her arms apart and whispered, "**Dream Sight…"**

The colorful world around her shattered and transformed into something that can only be described as resembling a black and white oil painting. The sharp edges of rocks and trees began to sag and melt while the clouds above her disappeared entirely. She blinked her eyes a few times to acclimate herself to her newly altered vision before focusing on the keep below her.

"_There you are,"_ she thought when she located the group inside the keep. As she searched through the vrykul in the group her eyes found the human and she was forced to pull her eyes away with a scream.

"What…was…that?" she sputtered as her vision slowly returned.

She could not understand what had just happened. Dream Sight, as her master mockingly termed the spell, enabled each val'kyr to gauge the potential threat level of her enemy by linking her eyes to the nightmarish realm in which they were born. By doing so they are able to sense the amount of mana in a mortal's body and thus fight or flee from them accordingly. The spell also allowed val'kyr to see through both stone and metal, enabling them to spy on their targets without being put at risk of being discovered.

She thought back to what she had seemed. After activating the spell everything seemed normal at first. Most of the vrykul she saw had almost negligible levels of mana within their bodies and thus would not be able to harm her. The various shaman and mages patrolling through the keep had more appreciable levels of mana and would pose a challenge to her if they teamed up and she was unable to regenerate from their mortal weapons within moments. As she focused on the vrykul leading the group she let out an involuntary growl.

"_Ashilda…"_

Even with all her posturing about the futility of fighting the val'kyr and her overall unwillingness to actually engage one of them, Ashilda was not a vrykul to be trifled or played with. If push came to shove and she was forced to confront the shaman she would use everything in her arsenal to simple survive the encounter. Ashilda was one of the, if not the most, powerful shaman in Northrend and if something were to cause her to cut loose and use everything she had in battle there would be no doubt she could easily destroy one or ten val'kyr without getting winded. That was one of the main reasons her master was so adamant about being neutral when trying to get the vrykul to follow him. If Ashilda were to decide to go against him most of the vrykul would follow her due to her charisma and abilities.

Ashilda was a problem that needed to be addressed carefully for sure but it was the human that was the cause for her temporarily blindness. Dream Sight caused each living being to resemble a candle flickering against the black background. The more mana they had the brighter they looked and the more they stood out. To compare the human to a candle would be like comparing a candle to the sun, the scale between the two of them was just too massive to comprehend. The amount of mana within her body was staggering for sure but the overall _feel_ of it was cause for alarm. If she did not know any better she would have claimed it was just like her master.

With an exasperated growl she deactivated the spell and immediately the world flashed back to its usual colors. As she prepared to take off towards Icecrown and report her findings a thick steel chain looped around her neck and snapped tight. Surprised by the sudden and unforeseen attack the val'kyr attempted to grip the chain with her hands and pull it away but before she could do so whoever was holding the other end gave a powerful tug and pulled her forcefully into the interior of the keep.

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**_Ten Minutes Earlier…_**

"Not that I'm grateful for the assistance but you have failed to explain what you are doing here."

Ashilda ignored the question and stared at the undead standing and moaning on the other side of the lava. Apparently after several of them attempted to walk across the molten rock and were burned to nothingness they had decided to give up and were shambling off into the nearby woods.

"Did you say something Svala?"

Svala spit on the ground and cross her arms, "I thought for sure you would never leave that pitiful village you now call home. You were quite adamant about never returning to Utgarde no matter what happens."

"I can see that your gratitude is as grand as ever. Maybe next time I find you on the verge of losing a battle to the undead I will simply watch them tear you limb from limb. If I feel like it I might even join them if it means never hearing your voice again.

Svala growled as her hands started to alight with embers, "Why you-"

"I would be careful Svala," Ashilda cautioned with a wag of her finger, "You remember what happened the last time you attempted to attack me or do you simply ignore that scar across your right shoulder?"

With a visible effort Svala let go of the mana coursing through her hands and turned to leave. Before she managed to take a single step a hand firmly grasped her shoulder, "We are not done yet. I have much to discuss with you and it would improve my opinion of your intelligence if you were to listen."

Svala pulled her shoulder our of Ashilda's grip, "What do you want?"

Ashilda walked past her former apprentice, "Let us talk inside Utgarde and away from any prying eyes. Where's Skadi?"

The blue-skinned frost vrykul came flying down on his blue proto-drake, "What do you want Ashilda?"

"We appear to have an eavesdropper. Have your men search the ramparts."

Skadi nodded, "Grauf was hit by a couple of spears during the skirmish but he should be fine. Come on boy! There is a hunt ahead of us!" With a roar of approval the proto-drake broke into a run before leaping into the air and disappearing around the side of the keep.

"Skadi should be capable of finding who is out there now come Rukia. There is much to discuss and little time to do it."

When they passed the large wood and steel door leading into the keep, two vrykul on either side grabbed the heavy iron handles and slowly slammed them shut with a loud bang. Inside the dark keep and with her eyes getting accustomed to the lighting Rukia found the décor to be very archaic. Vrykul and their wolf-like companions patrolled everywhere that she saw and the ones that weren't were busy sparing and fighting each other. A group of vrykul sneered at her and started towards her before Ashilda halted them with a simple motion of her hand.

"Do not fret Rukia," Ashilda said, "They will not dare to attack you as long as I am here."

"When did you become a dog to a human Ashilda," Svala taunted.

"Oh, I don't know Svala. I would say about the same time you threw out your dignity as a vrykul to lick the heels of the Lich King."

Rukia was getting a headache from the back and forth bickering so she attempted to move the conversation forward, "I don't mean to interrupt this reminiscing but who are you taking me to see?"

The high shaman quirked an eyebrow, "Didn't I tell you earlier? I guess it doesn't matter if I explain it again. I am bringing you to see Queen Angerboda to explain what is going on and your role in it."

"My role?"

"You have the unique ability to destroy a val'kyr without it being reformed by the Lich King. That will be vital in our imminent clash with the Scourge."

"I don't know how I will be able to help you. I'm only one person."

"Think of it like this, the undead and their master will so be aware of your abilities and so will be forced to be extra cautious about sending their most powerful soldiers to attack us."

Rukia's eyes widened in understanding, "You want them to fear me?"

"Exactly."

"And this is what you are going to tell this queen of yours?"

"I'll either make her listen or force her to. Either way the vrykul will be at war by dawn of tomorrow."

"How can you speak of your queen like that?"

Ashilda seemed to hear something in the distance and smirked. She made a few gestures to the vrykul around her and them immediately drew their weapons and stood at attention. Cracking her own neck, the high shaman turned to Rukia, "Hold that question for just a moment, it appears we have an unexpected guest."

Rukia looked confused, "What guest?"

A series of shrill screams getting louder startled Rukia but it seemed to not even faze Ashilda, "Your question will be answered in a few seconds but before our guest arrives I would like to ask you to stay out of sight."

"Why?"

"You will understand soon enough."

Rukia found herself forcibly shoved through an open door but with a bit of effort she was able to see just what was coming. Bound head to foot in thick black steel chains and guarded by at least two mages and warlocks was a val'kyr and it was apparent from her banshee-like screams that she was fully against her predicament. The two large vrykul dragging her along each had an end of the chain and were putting in a visible effort to keep their prisoner subdued. The val'kyr noticed this and doubled her efforts to escape but the spellcasters on either side of her were putting all of their focus into preventing her powers from working.

"Bring her to me," Ashilda ordered. The two vrykul nodded and dragged the val'kyr the rest of the way down the corridor. When they reached the high shaman they adjusted the bindings and forced the val'kyr onto her knees with her hands and wings bound behind her body.

"What is your name?" Ashilda growled. The val'kyr tilted her helmeted head up when she heard the question and something inside of her seemed to snap. She almost broke free of the bindings when Ashilda coated her head in a layer of stone and backhanded her across the face. The val'kyr's head snapped to the side and she collapsed coughing on the ground.

"I will repeat my question again. What is your name? If you do not answer I will have my apprentice here make you answer."

"Svala Sorrowgrave," the val'kyr muttered, "and to think my master was going to give you the same gift he gave me."

Svala looked absolutely disgusted, "You call what you became a gift?"

Ashilda raised a hand to silence her, "You still haven't answered my question. You have five seconds."

The val'kyr struggled against her captors and managed to force herself back onto her knees, "…my name is Annhylde."

Svala gasped and took a step back along with a lot of the other vrykul standing guard.

Ashilda seemed perplexed at this, "You know of her?"

"Her title is Annhylde the Caller. It is said she is one of the highest-ranking val'kyr in the Lich King's employ and is quite powerful as a result. She watches over the vrykul loyal to that monster and passes on to them the 'gift' of undeath."

"So Annhylde, what should I do with you?"

After a minute of silently glaring as her Annhylde finally spoke, "There is nothing you can do to me that would make me talk traitor. You know that killing me won't accomplish anything. My soul is tied to my master and he will never let me die. Everything you do here is pointless!"

Ashilda chuckled and knelt in front of Annhylde, "I see you are going to be uncooperative. Let's fix that." She turned her head to one of mages and gave a quick nod. As the mage nodded back the two vrykul holding the chains braced their feet and pulled the bindings taunt.

"**Arcane Blast."**

For the second time in less than five minutes Annhylde found her head being slammed around, this time by an intentionally underpowered arcane spell. Even underpowered it still packed quite the punch if the silvery blood trailing out of her mouth was any indication.

"I would prefer to have a civil conversation with you but since you are so intent on being rude and obnoxious I will just have to continue teaching you manners. Next time you speak out of line Svala here is going to rip off out of your wings."

"What do you want with me?" Annhylde said with resignation.

"That wasn't so bad was it? Let's start with what you were doing around Utgarde Keep."

"My master knows that you have swayed the vrykul to betray him. He is most unpleased."

Ashilda scoffed, "Someone with the power to corrupt both the living and the dead has no need for trust. What good are free-willed living beings when he can easily kill them and then raise them into unthinking abominations such as yourself."

"Then where were you when your brothers and sisters were begging like dogs to serve him?"

Ashilda coldly looked down at the val'kyr, "We vrykul are a proud people. When your Lich King first sent emissaries to us he seemed more…benevolent than he truly is. His ambassadors attempted to convince us that he had only our best intentions in mind and it would be wise for us to work together towards a greater goal. Most were convinced by his honeyed words but I saw him for what he truly was. So I departed for Nifflevar, just far enough away from Utgarde that he would not be able to easily sense me but still close enough to keep an eye out on things."

Annhylde grinned maliciously, "How did that work out for you? My master knew where you were the moment you left!"

Ashida shrugged, "Not the best part of my plan but there is another way to look at it. Who is tied up and at the other's mercy?"

"That was an elegant speech but I noticed you evaded my question."

Ashilda gripped the val'kyr's chin and forced her to look her in the eyes, "True vrykul, unlike you and your traitorous ilk, do not bow down and grovel at the feet of someone who does not have our interests at heart. I know for a fact that if things had continued to play out as they were we would be the cannon fodder for any war he would wage. Sure we would be told it was to protect our lands but it would be to actually protect him. We would be disposable, trash, garbage to be thrown out at the first signs of trouble to protect you master's own forces."

"But you were correct earlier," she said as she stood up and turned around, "I know that no matter what I say nothing will change you mind or convince you to talk. Therefore I will introduce to you someone special, someone who can easily make you spill your darkest secrets. You can come out now Rukia."

The val'kyr was confused about who or what this Rukia was but her confusion turned to terror when she saw a small female human in black robes walk out into the open.

"No! Get her away from me!"

Ashilda turned back to the val'kyr, a cold smile on her face. "I don't know where this fear is coming from. Weren't you just bragging that any death for you is temporary? If Rukia here were to kill you with her blade wouldn't you just reform near your master?"

Annhylde continued to struggle to move away from Rukia but the vrykul holding her in place were indomitable and didn't budge and inch. Ashilda seemed to take great enjoyment from this, "I can see that you are quite familiar with Rukia here. Is it her power that you fear or is it true death? Tell you what, as long as you continue to answer my question I will not have her kill you. Agreed?"

A quick nod from the val'kyr was her reply.

"Good. First things first, what are the Lich King's plans for Utgarde Keep?"

After a brief moment of hesitation that was broken when she looked at the zanpakuto at Rukia's waist Annhylde quickly said, "He is planning on storming it and killing all those inside before raising them as he willing servants."

The high shaman face had an ugly sneer, "I figured as much from the coward. Anything else?"

The val'kyr seemed to struggle against something before continuing, "He is planning on using one of his banshees to dominate you. He will make you bow down before him and with you out of the way the rest of the vrykul will follow."

This second bit of information seemed to thoroughly disgust the high shaman. Punching Annhylde's face with enough force to crack the eye guard Ashilda turned to Rukia, "Come here."

"Yes?"

"Draw your sword."

Rukia saw the val'kyr's face twist in terror. Reluctantly she drew her zanpakuto from its sheathe.

"Kill her."

Rukia turned her head in shock, "What? She is defenseless!"

"Defenseless…" Ashilda mocked, "A val'kyr is never defenseless. The only reason she hasn't yet escaped from Utgarde is because of the mage and warlock negating most of her powers. If she were any stronger those steel chains would snap like a dry twig under her unholy strength."

"What if…what if I could somehow destroy the connection between this Lich King and the val'kyr?"

Ashilda, along with every other vrykul, turned to Rukia. "You can do that?"

Rukia shook her head; "One of the abilities of my zanpakuto is to cleanse souls from possession by an evil spirit to corruption of the soul itself before transporting them to the afterlife. I might be able to severe the connection between this val'kyr and the Lich King by selectively destroying that particular corruption without cleansing her entire soul."

"Are you sure you can do that? It would be much easier to simply destroy her and move on. You have no idea what an enraged val'kyr will do."

Rukia looked at her zanpakuto solemnly before glancing at the val'kyr, "And if my plan works you have a val'kyr with free will on your side. It is wrong for me to destroy souls whenever I have the option to free them from whatever is controlling them. If this doesn't work I will put her out of her misery. I promise you this."

Ashilda glanced back at the val'kyr and sneered, "Very well. You will have one shot to do this. Warriors! Detain the prisoner and make sure she cannot move a muscle!"

Rukia watched the vrykul forced the val'kyr onto the floor with a loud thud. When it was clear that the val'kyr could not move Rukia made her way over to the val'kyr and held her zanpakuto out to her.

"Do not worry. If all goes well you will not feel a thing."

Kneeling down so she was eye level with Annhylde, Rukia touched the pommel of her zanpakuto to the val'kyr's forehead and said, "Konso."

Rukia knew something was different as soon as she attempted to cleanse the val'kyr's soul. To be honest, she expected any number of things to occur. This world or Azeroth as Ashilda reminded her earlier is entirely different then Earth and the Soul Society with magic and walking corporeal undead being among the most radical differences so far. So it came as no surprise to her when she found herself standing in the middle of a frozen wasteland.

"_This could be worse,"_ she thought as she looked around the icy landscape. Her own inner world was much like this, thanks to Sode no Shirayuki, so she didn't even notice the biting cold.

Searching for any type of landmark, Rukia notice several glowing blue chains stretching from the distance and converging together somewhere nearby. "I suppose those chains will lead me to where I need to go. I need to do what I came here for quickly. This place is giving me a strange vibe. Something is not right."

She found what she was looking for much sooner then she anticipated. The soul of the val'kyr was suspended above the ice with her arms, legs and wings spread out straight. Wrapped around each of the six appendages as well as her neck were familiar glowing blue chains. Walking up to one of the chains and giving it an experimental tap with her finger she took a step back and drew her zanpakuto.

"**What do we have here?"**

Rukia looked up in shock and turned around to see who could possibly be speaking to her. What she saw put her immediately on guard. Standing no more then twenty feet away was a massive armored figured. Clad in dark grey and black armor adorned with spikes and skulls, he was the epitome of intimidation. Rukia was not scared of the man himself, she had fought plenty of hollows bigger and more intimidating that him, it was the sword at his side that unnerved her. From the angle she was standing at, all she could make out were some runes on the blade itself.

As she sensed the sword absorbing the ambient spiritual energy permeating the val'kyr's soul she swallowed nervously, _"That sword is not natural. If I didn't know any better I would suggest someone created a twisted mockery of a zanpakuto."_

Not betraying her emotions, Rukia kept her calm façade, "Who are you?"

The man laughed and Rukia was disturbed to notice it echoed, **"This is quite an unusual occurrence. One moment I am gathering power and the next I sense someone breaking into the soul of one of my val'kyr. I was so intrigued that I decided to deal with it personally and here I find what appears to be a small child wandering around where she does not belong."**

"You say that and yet this isn't your soul."

"**True, but I am the master of this soul and so I own it in both life and death."**

"You are insane. Nobody can own someone's soul."

The man laughed again and this time Rukia noticed the val'kyr's soul plane reverberated with it, **"You will soon find that my ability to command souls is the least of your concerns."**

Rukia tightened her grip and repeated her question with more force, "Who are you?"

The man was silent for a moment, **"I suppose you are expecting a long speech about all my accomplishments or what I plan to do but all you need to know is that I am the Lich King."**

Rukia immediately tightened her stance at the mention of that name. She had heard Ashilda mention him more than once and she was not going to take him lightly.

"_The question is how he found me. I'll need to keep him talking while I figure out a plan."_

"So you're the Lich King? Speaking honestly, from what I have heard I would have expected someone a little more intimidating."

"**Brave words girl,"** the Lich King responded as he slowly walked towards Rukia, **"But you have no idea who you are dealing with. I, on the other hand, know about you."**

Rukia backpedalled away from the Lich King, "You know about me?"

"**I know that no matter what your appearance suggests you are not human. I also know that the blade you are holding is similar to my own. Let us now test just how similar it is."**

The Lich King seemed to fly above the ice as he swung Frostmourne down in an arc. An attack like that would have surprised and killed any normal person but Rukia was anything but normal. With one hand on the hilt and the other pressing up on her blade, she used all her strength to desperately hold the cursed sword at bay.

"**My opinion of you increases every second child. Your blade has not yet broken and your strength is enough to block a one-handed swing. Now let's increase the pressure…"**

Rukia's knees almost buckled as the force pushing down on her doubled. Gritting her teeth she managed to prevent her guard from completely failing. _"This is insane,"_ she thought, _"How can he have so much power and yet not be putting any effort into it? If I don't come up with something my zanpakuto is going to shatter."_

Her hopes were answered when she unconsciously used a quick burst of shunpo to vanish from beneath Frostmourne and reappear several meters away. As she gathered her breath the Lich King's sword slammed into the ground and shattered the ice beneath it.

"_That was shunpo? But how did I use that here?"_ She flexed her hands as she tried to figure out what was going on, _"There is something odd about this place…it is almost as if I am able to use my abilities to their fullest here. This might not be as bad as I thought."_

"**That was quite the impressive ability. You consciously utilized your mana to teleport yourself several meters away and out of danger. Not even the strongest of mages have been able to accomplish short-range and accurate teleportation while under duress and yet a mere child was able to do so. Fascinating…"**

"I think you will find that I have much more than a single trick or two. You will not stop me from finishing what I came here to do."

"**Boldly stated but you have failed to grasp what is going on. You may be able to block my attacks without your blade shattering but what if I were to move around your defenses and strike your body directly? How will all of your abilities and techniques help you as I rip your soul asunder and remake it in my image?"**

Rukia glared at the Lich King but didn't respond. Holding her arms out she began speaking the full incantation for one of her more powerful kido.

"Ye lord! Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man!"

The Lich King was puzzled by Rukia's actions but he was no fool. He could feel the mana in her start to twist into an unfamiliar form, **"What are you chanting?"**

"Inferno and pandemonium, the sea barrier surges, march on to the south! Hado #31: Shakkaho!"

As she shouted the last part of the kido she aimed her palms directly at the Lich King and released the spiritual energy from her body. Twin orbs of crimson spiritual energy rocketed out of her hands and coalesced into a single beam as it approached the Lich King.

His eyes widening behind his helmet, the Lich King quickly put up an arm to block the kido. While he was prepared for a blunt force attack he could not have foreseen the kido exploding upon impact with a target. As his body and the surrounding area was enveloped in smoke and fire, Rukia let out a sigh and moved to go free Annhylde from her bindings.

Panting slightly from the amount of spiritual energy she put into the kido Rukia turned back to the val'kyr's soul, "That took care of him. Now then how to-"

"**Where do you think you are going? I hope that was not all you had."**

"Impossible," Rukia muttered as she turned back around. The Lich King was still standing where her attack hit him but except for a couple of scorch marks on his armor he was unscathed. "There is no way he could have survived a fully chanted kido of that level without a scratch on him."

"**I can see by your dumbfounded expression that you planned to 'do me in' with that spell. If I happened to be one of my death knights or liches that spell would have done some damage and perhaps even incapacitated me. Now then, where were we? Ah yes, I believe it was my turn to attack."**

"_This is bad,"_ she thought as she dodged a swing from Frostmourne, _"None of my normal attacks are working. Kido at the level I am proficient at is useless and my zanpakuto can barely stand against that blade of his."_

Finding a break in his attack pattern Rukia managed to put several meters between her and the Lich King. Not wasting any time she held her zanpakuto horizontal to the ground and shouted, "Dance, Sode no Shirayuki!"

As the familiar snow-white blade materialized in her hands, Rukia was shocked to see the Lich King barreling towards her without hesitation. As she swung Sode no Shirayuki to meet Frostmourne she was pleasantly surprised to see that her shikai was powerful enough to effectively ward off his one handed swings. The Lich King seemed to have noticed this as well and stared at her zanpakuto.

"**Interesting…your blade changed forms and now your strength is at least five times what it was previously. Was that the purpose of that phrase you uttered?"**

Rukia didn't respond as she quickly punctured the ice around her four times, _"I hope this works."_

"Tsugi no mai, Hakuren!"

As icy spiritual energy began flowing up from the four marks on the ground to Sode no Shirayiki the Lich King sprinted towards her with Frostmourne dragging along the ground.

"**I will not let you finish!"**

"It's too late!" she said as she swung her zanpakuto forward. In an instant the Lich King and everything within ten feet of him was buried under several tons of solid ice.

Rukia looked at her handiwork and was disturbed to see just how close of a call it was. The Lich King's hand was extended several inches from the tip of her zanpakuto with his fingers looking to clamp around her neck.

"_That won't hold him for long."_

With her opponent incapacitated for the moment Rukia turned back to the imprisoned val'kyr. With a few quick slashes all but the chain wrapped around Annhylde's neck fell to the icy ground. She was just about to sever the last one when an unholy spiritual pressure washed over her. Struggling to remain standing she turned around and saw the ice trapping the Lich King shatter.

"**ENOUGH!"**

Free of his imprisonment the Lich King stalked over to Rukia, his sheer presence overwhelming her rational mind, **"I have played around long enough. Your abilities have only worked so far simply because they are unique but no further. There is nothing you can do to stop me. You will fall here and the vrykul will follow."**

"_What intense spiritual pressure. It's even stronger then my brother's. If I don't think of something I'm going to die."_

Shaking her head she quickly extended her finger towards the Lich King and began chanting another kido.

"**You hope to use another of your spells against me? Can't you see that it is useless?"**

"Who said I was aiming at you?" she said with a smirk as she pointed her finger at the chain around Annhylde's neck, "I'm pretty sure you cannot exist in this soul if I destroy the last binding."

The Lich King attempted to stop her but Rukia spoke too quickly, "Hado #4: Byakurai!"

The bolt of lightning shot out of her finger towards the chain, shattering it upon impact. As the chain fell to the ground, the soul plane around them began to shake. Rukia turned to the Lich King and saw that he was desperately trying to remain in the val'kyr's soul but it was a losing battle by the way his mental body was starting to fade away.

Right before he completely faded away he spoke to Rukia, **"Know this. Your victory here is temporary. If we meet again I will not play around. You will fall to my power before you have any idea what has happened. Your time is limited…"**

When he completely faded away a bright white light blinded Rukia before everything went black.

* * *

...

* * *

With a cry Rukia's body was flung away from the val'kyr.

As she skidded to a stop she heard a voice ask, "What happened in there?"

She turned to Ashilda, "I have no clue. That has never happened before."

When the shaman's face broke out into a scowl Rukia knew she was looking for details. With a sigh she began her tale, "It was all very strange. As soon as attempted to perform the konso on the val'kyr I found myself in a desolate plane. I saw several glowing blue chains extending into the distance and decided to follow them hoping they would be a clue to where I needed to go. When I found the source I saw that the chains were acting as a prison of sorts for the val'kyr's soul, keeping it subdued so that the Lich King could use its body like a puppet. I was about to free her when the Lich King showed up."

"He personally showed up?" Ashilda asked with skepticism apparent in her voice.

Rukia nodded her head, "Yes, but I think he was just as surprised to see me as I was to see him."

"I'm assuming he wasn't just going to let you do what you please?"

She shuddered as she remembered the Lich King's power, "He was like nothing I have ever seen before. He shrugged off all my attacks as if I was but an insect. I even released my zanpakuto but that was still not enough. I only managed to win because I managed to sever his link to her soul."

"There is no time to waste Ashilda," Svala ordered, "The Lich King will not stand this slight to his honor. It is but a matter of time before he personally arrives at Utgarde at the head of a ten thousand strong army."

"Don't panic Svala. I'm certain that his physical form still sleeps atop Icecrown Citadel. We have plenty of time to prepare a strategy for when he eventually does come after us."

"High shaman! The val'kyr is moving!"

As Annhylde regained consciousness Ashilda glared at Rukia, "I take it you were totally successful?"

Resealing her zanpakuto Rukia nodded, "I believe I destroyed all the tethers holding the val'kyr's soul in servitude to the Lich King. I don't know how she'll react. For all we know she could have gone to him willingly."

"Good point," Ashilda conceded as she turned to the vrykul around her, "Be on your guard warriors! She may yet be hostile!"

The val'kyr shook her head as she regained consciousness, "What-what happened?"

Ashilda crossed her arms, "Why don't you answer my question first. What do you remember?"

"I remember the Lich King in my soul but he seemed to be fighting against someone. For the past year, ever since I was transformed into a val'kyr, my mind has been cold and dark but the person fighting him seemed to be full of light. Her presence in my soul seemed to invigorate me and give me the strength to fight back against the Lich King."

"That's pretty much what happened," Rukia spoke up, "I managed to enter your soul and cleanse the Lich King's presence from you. It wasn't easy though."

Annhylde looked up and attempted to bow to Rukia, "Thank you for freeing me from my nightmare Death Goddess."

"_Oh god no. Not again."_

Rukia's eyebrow twitched, "Why are you calling me by the stupid title?"

The val'kyr looked as if she was slapped in the face, "You must be a goddess of death for you have freed my soul from the clutched of the Lich King. While Frostmourne caused my soul to feel as if I was constantly burning alive your blade put out the fires and soothed my pain. You have given me freedom and in return I will serve you until I can no longer breathe."

"Uh…" Rukia actually had no response to that comment. She was utterly clueless on how to respond to a val'kyr that has pledged their services for life. Luckily she was saved by a sneering voice.

"What the hell is going on?"

Ashilda turned and mockingly waved off the new arrival, "Keep your voice down. Can't you see something interesting just happened?"

The new arrival snarled, "You dare come back after leaving in disgrace? What is going to stop me from dragging you away in chains and force you to work until you drop from exhaustion?"

"Oh Angerboda," Ashilda sighed and began counting on her fingers, "I can list a couple of reasons right away: you don't have the power to actually force me to do anything, I found someone who can free val'kyr from the Lich King's grasp and last but not least I am your older twin sister."

With that last comment Rukia realized that Ashilda and the vrykul woman standing next to her were identical apart from a few cosmetic differences. Sighing in confusion, she voiced the only thought she could gather at the moment.

"I really need a vacation."

* * *

...

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**

**There you have it, Rukia is the first of the seven characters to fight an actual boss from the Warcraft universe and contrary to what happened she lost badly. If you read carefully you will notice that she used everything in her arsenal to fight the mental representation of the Lich King and yet nothing worked.**

**Read and Review pleae**

_**~Bahamut_Reishiki**_


	21. Not a Chapter! New story posted!

Sorry to disappoint any of my faithful readers but this is not a new chapter. After tallying up all the votes concerning what new story to post I am pleased to announce that the winner is the FFXIII x WoW crossover! So go to my profile and check out my new story **Warcraft: Lightning Chronicles**

Please read and review it when you are done.


	22. Important Information: Rewrite Inbound!

Dear Loyal Readers,

After much deliberation I have decided to rewrite "**Bleached into Azeroth**." I have hit the wall (at full sprint with a bloody nose) of trying to write a story with too many characters, which leads to a great many plots and everything just gets confusing from there on. Within the next few weeks I will begin posting the new chapters of the revised story. I guess I knew this would happen eventually but I tried many times to write myself forward only to fail again and again.

The characters I will bring along are open to discussion and therefore all of you can influence whom I bring. If you want a character you would prefer to be in the rewrite please give a reason or two in the message. Some characters work better than others but if a lot of you want to have a specific character involved in Ichigo's new journey through Azeroth I will be more than happy to oblige.

The new story will include:

1. No more than 5 characters from the Bleach Universe coming over. Ichigo is one of them so really only four characters besides him.

2. Love interests! Characters have feelings like real people and thus they can expect to act on them.

3. Original villains and plots. The canon villains exist so expect to hear from them.

4. The Cthulhu Mythos (alongside the Old Gods), Elder Gods, and so on and so forth.

5. New and exciting powerups for everyone (surprises inbound for those of you who expect the same powers as in the manga/anime).

6. Expanded character development.

**_The author,_**

**_~Bahamut_Reishiki_**


	23. Revised Story Posted

Dear Loyal Readers,

I know that I told all of you that my new story wouldn't be posted for a couple of weeks but the ideas have been coming so quickly that I had to get started on it right away. If you are wondering my new story is now posted under the title of **Journey of Spirits**. Coming in at a hefty 7,300 words + review responses it promises to kick off the start of a great story.I have many of the first few dozen chapters already planned out and did my best to avoid the pitfalls that helped to bring to an end the great story that was **Bleached Into Azeroth**.

I would like to thank the following reviewers for their contributions and ideas as to who to bring in my next journey: saddas74, Drinker, Opinion Giver, Drake G. Reaper, Undead Assassin, Tsu no mumei, Baron von Nobody, ichko, Rei Rusuragi, reality deviant, Infinite Freedom, Blinded in a bolthole, Raximus, Reikson, and that one Guest who was too shy to leave their name.

For those of you who did not get the characters they wanted put into the story I truly am sorry.

**_~Bahamut_Reishiki_**


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